Beyond the headlines: MI's NSB reliance, & DC's bowling depth!
Beyond the headlines; MI v/s DC, Game 13 of the WPL
The Delhi Capitals beat the Mumbai Indians by 9 wickets, in a game that was more one-sided than that scoreline suggests.
But, what happened beyond the headlines?
Hayley Matthews struggles against pace but keeps opening for MI, the 2023 champs are too dependent on Nat Sciver-Brunt, & DC’s ridiculous bowling unit is re-writing the rules on good bowling practices.
MI are too reliant on Nat Sciver-Brunt
Written by Ritwika Dhar. You can follow her on Twitter.
RCB don’t score without Ellyse Perry, and MI don’t score without Nat Sciver-Brunt.
MI’s early batting woes persisted tonight, exposing an over dependence on Sciver-Brunt to save the 2023 champs. MI score at just 7.07 runs per powerplay over after 5 games this season, the second-lowest run rate in the league.
MI's openers, Yastika Bhatia and Hayley Matthews, had scored just 151 runs at a strike rate of just 100 in 5 games. While Matthews scored a scratchy 59 (50) against UPW in the last game, her overall tally stands at just 113 (106) in 5 innings. Bhatia has struggled even more, scoring just 38 runs off 45 balls in 5 innings, including today’s 11 (10).
With the top order faltering, Nat Sciver-Brunt has been MI’s saviour so far. Before today, MI had scored 572 runs, and Sciver-Brunt had scored 254 of those runs (48.19% of MI’s total) at a strike rate of 155.8 and an average of 127. That’s not a typo.
She has been the most prolific boundary-hitter in the WPL, smashing 48 fours (and zero 6s somehow?) - 22 more than the next highest striker, RCB’s Perry. Her dominance in the powerplay was evident before today, scoring 88 runs off 56 balls at a strike rate of 157.1. In the middle overs (7-16), her strike rate surges further to 170.1 as she put up 182 runs off 107 balls.
But, not today. Sciver-Brunt struggled to find her rhythm, conceding 10 dots in her 22-ball stay and managing just two boundaries—an uncharacteristic outing for the in-form batter. In all, she scored just 18 runs, the first time all season she’s been paced at slower than a-run-a-ball.
MI’s lower middle order only managed to add 40 runs off 39 balls after her dismissal.
Yesterday, we noted how dependent RCB were on Perry’s runs, and how they collapsed after the Aussie’s first ever WPL duck. After 5 games, Perry has scored 30.05% of RCB’s total runs.
After tonight, Nat Sciver-Brunt has scored 39.53% of MI’s total runs this season.
Data from ESPNcricinfo & Cricmetric.
DC’s deep, versatile bowling lineup
Written by Tarutr Malhotra.
Chopping and changing your bowlers is supposed to be bad, but not for Meg Lanning & co. However, DC’s bowling depth has insulated them from normal cricketing logic this season.
They’ve got three elite pace options in Marizanne Kapp (5 wickets in 2025), Shikha Pandey (7 wkts) & Annabel Sutherland (8 wkts). Meanwhile, they also have Arundathi Reddy (4 wkts) & Titas Sadhu (1 wkt) who can be brought in based on the specific match up required. 4 of the 5 have played an international game in the last 12 months, with only Pandey missing out - to much consternation among the Indian press.
To repeat, we’re talking about DC’s fourth pace option. Both Reddy and Sadhu would start for other WPL teams, and especially for UPW and GG who are reliant on young and/or unproven players as their second and third pace options.
Meanwhile, DC have Jess Jonassen & Radha Yadav for spin, the latter of whom has barely played in 2025. Instead, Minnu Mani has been used as a 6th option for DC. Today, the Mani & Jonassen picked up 6 wickets in 7 overs at an economy of 4.71. For context, Yadav has taken 14 wickets in 19 innings for DC. She’s their eighth bowler at the moment.
Just ridiculous depth. But, it’s also about how the bowlers are used.
DC have used 6 bowlers in 5 of 6 games this season, and every chosen bowler has bowled at least 2 overs in every game barring one exception - Mani against RCB, when the defending champs chased down 141 runs in just 16.1 overs.
This is a trend that goes back to last season. In 2024, on average, DC had 3.13 bowlers deliver at least 2 overs in a game (the 2nd highest mark in the league), while 3.00 bowlers completed their 4-over allotment (the 1st highest mark in the league).
DC were giving multiple bowlers at least two overs every night - and then letting the best ones finish out their 4-over allotment as needed on a game-by-game basis. Unsurprisingly, DC took a league-high 7.75 wickets per game in 2024 - the next highest were RCB who took 6.64.
The trend has continued this year. They’ve taken 45 wickets in 6 games, at 7.5 wickets a game! That number is more impressive considering their one blip against RCB in Vadodara where they only took 2 wickets because the defending champs needed just 141 runs.
The move to Bengaluru’s swing and bounce-friendly pitches have also meant that DC can now control the powerplay overs (conceding just 96 runs in 3 innings versus 162 in 3 in Vadodara), thereby giving their middle overs bowlers more leeway to experiment with less pressure.
This season of the WPL is unique as teams will play at 4 different venues. DC are the only team that don’t play at home after hosting last season’s final, but if the Lucknow and Mumbai pitches are half as friendly as the Chinnaswamy, DC are well placed to finally convert their group stage success into a WPL trophy.
Data from ESPNcricinfo.