Beyond the headlines: Kapp's elite bowling, Kaur's perfect knock, DC's opener dependence, & more!

Beyond the headlines; MI v/s DC, WPL 2025 FINAL

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Mar 15, 2025

The Mumbai Indians hilariously beat the tragicomic Delhi Capitals by 8 runs to win the WPL title. Despite restricting MI to just 149, DC’s batters collapsed because…why? They didn’t want to sap themselves of motivation for next year’s WPL? They didn’t want to see an Aussie captain beat an Indian in a final?

But, what happened beyond the (hilarious!) headlines?

Marizanne Kapp was in vicious form with the ball against MI’s openers, Harmanpreet Kaur’s adaptive innings saved MI, Nat Sciver-Brunt put in an oddly subdued performance with the bat, & DC’s dependence on their openers badly backfired.

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How Kapp broke down MI’s openers

Written by Krithika Venkatesan, who works as a talent scout with RCB. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Marizanne Kapp was brilliant today. She bowled 4 overs on the trot to begin the innings, bowling out with figures of 2-11 by the end of the 7th over. She bowled 16 dots (of 48 in the MI innings), and took the wickets of both MI openers.

Kapp usually follows a set plan against Hayley Matthews, especially with the new ball. She starts by taking the ball away before bringing one back in. The delivery that comes back in is always tricky for Matthews.

Across the WBBL, the WPL, and The Hundred, Kapp has bowled to Matthews on 21 occasions, delivering 116 balls in total. 58% have been dots, and Kapp has dismissed Matthews 6 times before tonight. Matthews has a strike rate of 84.5 against the South African pacer in franchise leagues, and tends to play her out rather than taking her on.

Matthews is strong through the covers and loves to drive. When she drives, she moves across and gets her left elbow close to 120 degrees. But with Kapp’s release angle, whenever she bowls back of a length or on a good length and moves the ball away, Matthews struggles for room. Recently, Matthews has stopped reaching for those deliveries and instead waits for Kapp to bowl a bad one.

Kapp often tempts Matthews with out swingers before using a wobble seam to bring one back in. Sometimes, it slides down the leg, but on other occasions—like today—it comes in perfectly.

The last time these two teams met, Kapp bowled 14 deliveries to Matthews, with 10 of them being back of a length. She missed her line four times, two of which were put away for boundaries.

Today, Kapp bowled 7 deliveries to Matthews - 4 of them back of a length. Out of the four, two of them were wobble seam deliveries, which came in. The wicket delivery, and the ball before that.

Against Yastika Bhatia, Kapp has bowled in 6 franchise league matches. The sample size is small, with just 39 deliveries in total. However, Bhatia has hit eight 4s off Kapp, at a SR of close to 108. That’s because Kapp sometimes offers width while trying to adjust to a left-hander, which suits Bhatia as she can slice the ball well.

Today, Kapp bowled 8 deliveries to Bhatia. Six of them were fuller, and out of six, she offered width on one occasion, which Bhatia put away for four. In response, Kapp adjusted her length on the next ball, pulling it back slightly. Bhatia, expecting a fuller one, mistimed her shot, and Jemimah Rodrigues completed a great catch.

After losing both openers early, Harmanpreet Kaur and Nat Sciver-Brunt chose not to take any risks against Kapp in her final 2 overs. Instead, they focused on playing her out, managing just 3 singles from her last 9 balls.

Data tracked by Krithika personally.

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How Kaur saved MI’s blushes

Written by Uma Mahesh. You can follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Harmanpreet Kaur (66 of 44) delivered a captain’s knock in the WPL final, rescuing MI from a precarious position of 14/2 in 4.3 overs. Throughout this WPL, Kaur had largely played the role of an aggressive finisher, but tonight she adapted to the situation as needed.

Kaur started cautiously, absorbing pressure with just 5 off 9 balls in the powerplay. She remained watchful until the 9th over but shifted gears in the 10th, launching the first 6 of the final. Her counterattack was calculated - 46 runs off the next 22 balls - dominating the middle overs as Mumbai scored 90 runs from the 6th to 16th overs.

Kaur capitalised on Delhi's third pacer, Annabel Sutherland, taking 16 off 6 balls, and their third spinner, Minnu Mani, scoring 9 off 5, ensuring she punished the weaker links in the attack. Partnering with Sciver-Brunt in a crucial 89-run stand, Kaur dictated the tempo.

The MI captain’s spin domination played a crucial role in her acceleration tonight. She scored 34 runs against spin at a SR of 168.75, making up 60.71% of her total runs. Against pace, she accumulated 22 runs at a strike rate of 126.32, contributing 39.29% of her innings.

Her dominance against left-arm spinners was particularly evident in this innings, as she scored 26 off 13 balls against Jess Jonassen and N Sree Charani, attacking them at a strike rate of 200. Kaur has traditionally fared well against slow left arm orthodox, averaging 58.3 at a strike rate of 134, and this probably reinforced her confidence to take them.

Against Jonassen, she was particularly aggressive, scoring 19 off just 7 balls. Against Charani, she maintained control with 7 off 6, ensuring strike rotation. Kaur’s shot selection against them - using her feet well to negate turn and targeting the off-side with powerful lofted shots - demonstrated her game awareness and skill set against this bowling type.

Kaur’s wagon wheel tonight, by run percentage. *Credit: Cricviz.*

The wagon wheel analysis of Harmanpreet Kaur's innings reveals a balanced scoring approach. She accumulated 44% of her runs through off-side regions, compared to 39% on the leg side. The data indicates her technical proficiency in playing shots all around the wicket, with particular effectiveness through the cover region. This strategic batting approach allowed her to capitalise on various bowling lines and maintain pressure on the fielding side throughout her innings.

Kaur’s innings was a masterclass in pacing an innings under pressure, as she remains one of the most dependable leaders in women’s cricket. Her departure in the 17th over stalled MI’s death-overs momentum, but her innings ensured a competitive total for her team to defend.

Data from Cricviz & the Jio broadcast.

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DC did a good job of subduing the irresistible Sciver-Brunt

Written by Shayan Ahmad Khan. You can follow him on Twitter.

Nat Sciver-Brunt ended the season with an incredible 523 runs at an average of 65.37 and a strike rate of 152.47 – 216 runs more than MI’s second-highest run-getter, Hayley Matthews (SR: 122.80). However, tonight she made just 30 runs off 28 deliveries.

Even accounting for MI’s two early-wicket losses that left them at 14/2, Sciver-Brunt’s performance tonight did not mirror her form all season. She had a balls per boundary ratio of 3.75 before the final, and a dot ball percentage of 29.21%. Today, she faced 11 dots, and scored just four 4s in 28 balls.

So, what happened tonight?

Although Sciver-Brunt was dismissed by left-arm finger spinner N Charani, she scored 3 boundaries in 8 balls against her. Before tonight, she had scored 85 off 44 balls versus slow left arm orthodox in this WPL, including 21 off 12 against Sophie Ecclestone, who is one of the best bowlers in the world. Including her performance against Jess Jonassen, NSB made 18 off 11 versus the favourable matchup today.

She also made 8 off 5 versus Shikha Pandey and took a single off the one delivery she faced against the off-spinner Minnu Mani. So despite ending up with 30 off 28, she went at 27 off 17 (SR: 158.82) combined against those 4 bowlers - much closer to her season-long strike rate of 152.

However, Sciver-Brunt struggled against Annabel Sutherland and Marizanne Kapp tonight.

When Sciver-Brunt was on 24 (19), the Aussie all-rounder limited her to just 1 run off five balls, including 4 consecutive dots, in the 14th over. The over was full of pace variations, combined with perfect executions of lines and lengths - particularly targeting fullish and length balls outside off. Sutherland’s second delivery was a slower ball (91.1 kph), her third jumped to 113.1 kph, before dropping back down to 90.8 kph on the fifth.

But it wasn’t just her bowling; fielding at mid-on, Sutherland also stopped the ball twice within Sciver-Brunt’s first 7 deliveries, not allowing her to get a boundary early in her innings. Her first 4 only came off the 13th ball of her innings.

Marizanne Kapp also conceded just 1 run off 5 deliveries against Sciver-Brunt, as MI were happy to see the dangerous South African off after a stunning 2-11 performance with the ball tonight. She bowled 3 back-of-a-length deliveries outside off, a length ball in the same line, and another length ball on the stumps to restrict Sciver-Brunt.

Additionally, while batting alongside the dominant Harmanpreet Kaur in MI’s key third wicket partnership of 89 (62), Sciver-Brunt faced an odd problem. She didn’t face a single ball in overs 4 and 5 (including the last 3 balls of Yastika Bhatia’s innings), and then again from overs 9.4 to 11.2. It can’t have been easy finding her form tonight while basically watching the game for multiple 10+ ball spells.

Disciplined bowling from Kapp & Sutherland combined with brilliant fielding helped DC restrict Sciver-Brunt, and therefore MI, to just 149 tonight - well below the Brabourne first innings par of closer to 170 in the WPL.

Data from Cricmetric & ESPNcricinfo.

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Lanning & Verma’s season-long brilliance cost DC the WPL

Written by Ritwika Dhar. You can follow her on Twitter.

Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma have been the backbone of Delhi Capitals' batting unit this season. Between them, Verma (300 runs) and Lanning (263 runs) have accounted for 48.95% of DC’s total runs in the eight group-stage matches - a dependency that has only grown in the WPL (47.9% in 2023, 47.1% in 2024).

While DC’s opening partnership has been the most successful in WPL 2025, their middle order has been the least productive - or, more precisely, the least tested. DC’s middle order (4 to 6) has managed just 225 runs at an average of 17.30 and a strike rate of 109.75, facing the fewest deliveries (205) of any team.

The most concerning aspect? Apart from Lanning and Verma, no other DC batter has crossed 150 runs this season before tonight. Verma remains the only player to surpass 300, while Lanning ended on 276 after tonight. Their next-highest run-scorer, Jess Jonassen, scored just 137 runs before tonight.

Lanning’s struggles in chases have been particularly glaring this season. She has scored 154 runs at a strike rate of 104.76 (compared to scoring at 143.42 SR batting first), and her vulnerability against pace has been a recurring issue. Before today, she has been dismissed 6 out of 7 times by pacers, averaging just 22.33 against them.

In chases, the numbers get worse. 4 out of 5 dismissals have come against pace at a dismal average of 6.25, compared to her 69.00 average vs spin. Today, she once again fell to a pacer, as Sciver-Brunt bowled her on 13 (9) in the 2nd over.

Verma, on the other hand, has been better in chases, scoring 260 runs at a blistering strike rate of 160.49 in eight matches. But tonight, she too faltered, trapped LBW by Shabnim Ismail’s off-cutter in the 3rd over for just 4 (9). Remarkably, this was the first time in WPL 2025 that both DC openers were dismissed within the powerplay - and only the second time in three seasons!

Go Deeper: CS Chiwanza details how the 5-foot-4, 36-year old Shabnim Ismail became (and remains!) the fastest Women’s bowler in the world.

In the group stage, DC chased in 6 matches, winning two off the final ball and losing once against UPW. The other three victories were comfortable, with DC finishing the chase with at least six wickets in hand.

Today, DC lost while chasing just 150 because of that misfiring middle-order. Rodrigues (30 off 21) and Kapp (40 off 26) got good starts, but couldn’t convert them into title-winning knocks.

Data from ESPNcricinfo.