All-round DC thrash MI by 9 wickets to claim top spot in WPL
Bengaluru, Feb 28 (PTI): Delhi Capitals dished out an all-round effort to comfortably beat former champions Mumbai Indians by nine wickets and jump to the top of the table in the Women's Premier League here on Friday.
Asked to bowl, DC first restricted inaugural edition's winner MI to 123 for nine, riding on Jess Jonassen's fine effort with the ball.
Jonassen returned with impressive figures of 3 for 25 from her four overs to break the backbone of DC with the crucial wickets of in-form Nat Sciver-Brunt, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and G Kamalini.
Chasing the modest target, skipper Meg Lanning (60 not out off 49) and Shafali Verma (43 off 28) shared 85 runs off just 59 balls to hand DC a great start.
Shafali was going great guns but was dismissed in the process, trying to hit right-arm pacer Amanjot Kaur over deep midwicket. She failed to get the elevation, resulting in a straightforward catch for Amelia Kerr near the boundary.
But by then Shafali and Lanning had virtually sealed the match in DC's favour with their attacking batting.
Shafali 28-ball knock consisted four boundaries and two sixes.
Lanning, who was struggling for runs, finally came to the party with classy unbeaten knock that was laced with nine boundaries.
Jemimah Rodrigues remained unbeaten 15 off 10 balls as DC chased down the target with 33 balls to spare.
Earlier opting to bat, DC had a decent start before losing both their openers Yastika Bhatia (11) and Hayley Matthews (22) in quick succession.
In-form Sciver-Brunt continued her fine form and together with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (18) shared 38 runs for the third wicket before the latter was dismissed LBW by Jonassen in the 11th over.
Sciver-Brunt, however, gave simple return catch to Jonassen to get out in the 14th over.
Sajeevan Sajana then did not help her to team's cause, ballooning a simple catch to DC skipper Meg Lanning off the bowling of Minnu Mani at extra cover while going for an extravagant shot over the leg side.
It was raining wickets as G Kamalini too failed to come to her side's rescue after being cleaned up by Jonassen in the 18th over with MI struggling at 104 for 7 in 17.5 overs.
Towards the end, it was struggle for MI with no set batter in hand but they somehow managed to get past the 120-run mark without being bowled out.
The win enabled DC to jump to the top of the WPL standings with eight points from six matches, while MI slipped a place to the second spot with six points from five games.
DC will take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their next match here on Saturday, while MI will be up against UP Warriorz on March 6 in Lucknow.
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Delhi CM Rekha Gupta accuses Mamata Banerjee of stalling SIR; TMC hits back
Kolkata (PTI): Alleging that her West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee had approached the Supreme Court to stall the SIR exercise to prevent the identification of infiltrators, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Sunday claimed that the people of the state have made up their minds to dislodge the Trinamool Congress from power.
The TMC countered strongly, urging Gupta to "look into her own backyard" and accused her of making absurd allegations against the TMC government without checking facts.
Addressing participants at the 'Nari Sankalp Yatra' organised by the BJP's women's wing at Science City auditorium here, Gupta alleged that the "hands-off" and appeasement policies of the TMC government had allowed thousands of infiltrators to enter the state in recent years.
She claimed that this had put a strain on basic rights such as access to water, electricity, ration, education, livelihood and the right to vote for genuine citizens.
"She wants to perpetuate this and hence is trying to stall the SIR exercise, which aims at identifying and deporting infiltrators. Imagine a chief minister going to the apex court to argue against an exercise meant to ensure free and fair polls," Gupta said.
The BJP leader alleged that appeasement politics had reached an "alarming level" under the TMC regime.
Raising concerns over women's safety, she claimed that women in the state were not secure despite having a woman chief minister.
Referring to the rape-murder of a woman doctor at RG Kar Hospital, Gupta alleged that the state government had failed to respond adequately to such crimes.
She also referred to the alleged rape of a woman medic in Durgapur and another law student on a Kolkata college campus, claiming that criminals had been emboldened to commit brutalities against women.
She alleged that in crimes against women, overall crime incidents and child marriages, West Bengal remained among the top -- "a slur on a state which once led intellectual and social movements and set examples for the rest of the country," she said.
Criticising the state government's welfare initiatives, she said schemes such as Kanyashree were built on "false claims" and asserted that women needed security rather than assurances.
Accusing the state government of blocking central schemes, Gupta alleged that funds worth "lakhs of crores of rupees" had not reached the poor due to non-implementation of programmes such as Ayushman Bharat, PM Awas Yojana and Jal Jeevan Mission by the state.
"You are only interested in renaming projects and taking credit," she said.
Gupta also alleged that the education sector in the state had been adversely affected, saying several state-run schools had closed due to a shortage of teachers and that the government was opposed to the National Education Policy.
Drawing a comparison with BJP-ruled Delhi, Gupta said, "People have already voted out 'Bhaia' (a reference to former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal). Now it is your turn to bid farewell to 'Didi'." Calling upon women to resist what she termed "strong-arm tactics", she urged them to assert their strength, invoking the imagery of Goddess Durga.
"Bengal has the right to live with dignity, and women have the right to live with dignity," she added.
Reacting to Gupta's allegations, West Bengal Women and Child Welfare minister Shashi Panja accused her of making "absurd allegations" against the Trinamool Congress government ahead of elections.
Panja alleged that during Gupta's tenure in Delhi, several incidents had raised serious concerns, including reports of missing young women and a blast near the Red Fort.
She also criticised the air pollution situation in the national capital, claiming that people were struggling to breathe.
The TMC leader said that despite being in power for a year, Gupta was making "tall claims" instead of addressing key issues in Delhi.
Panja further alleged that the Delhi CM visited West Bengal during elections to "peddle false allegations" against the state government.
Rebutting Gupta, the TMC said in a post on X said, "Madam why did you go off-script again? For your edification, here are the cold, hard facts: In total cases of crimes (IPC + SLL), Bengal ranks a respectable 15th, far safer than BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Gujarat, which languish near the bottom."
"In overall crime rate, Bengal sits comfortably at 28th. Who's second? Your own Delhi. Double Engine Gujarat and Haryana grab 4th and 5th as top-tier crime havens," the TMC said.
"In child marriage, Assam again takes the shameful pole position. And yet you dare lecture Bengal? Stop embarrassing yourself, stop the hypocrisy, and maybe fix the rotting mess in your own backyard before pointing fingers at a state that's outperforming your disasters on every key metric," the TMC countered.
