Bengaluru, Feb 29 (PTI) Opener Shafali Verma made a fluent fifty to steer Delhi Capitals to a hefty 194 for five against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their Women’s Premier League match here on Thursday.

Verma (50, 31b, 3×4, 4×6) and Alice Capsey (46, 33b, 4×4, 2×6) added 82 runs for the second wicket as the Capitals recovered well from the early loss of their skipper Meg Lanning.

Marizanne Kapp (32, 16b, 2×4, 3×6) and Jess Jonassen (36 not out, 16b, 4×4, 2×6) also played blinders towards the end to give a fillip to the Capitals as they added 58 runs for the fifth wicket in a little over four overs.

Royal Challengers were forced to rest all-rounder Ellyse Perry because of an illness, and brought in Nadine de Klerk.

Verma, who was dropped on two by Shreyanka Patil off pacer Renuka Singh, and Capsey went about their task shifting seamlessly through the gears.

Verma gave a lot of steam to DC innings when she smashed left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux for a four and six off successive balls.

Capsey, at the other end, was more innovative in her shot selection, often bringing out reverse sweeps and scoops behind the stumper.

Verma reached her second fifty of this WPL with a six off off-spinner Shreyanka over mid-wicket.

But she fell the very next ball, pulling Shreyanka straight into the hands of Georgia Wareham at mid-wicket.

De Klerk soon delivered a wonderful slow yorker to castle Capsey and Jemimah Rodrigues returned without contributing a single run as the Capitals slipped into a mini-slump.

However, Kapp and Jonassen took the RCB bowlers to the cleaners between 14th and 18th overs to ensure that DC would finish strong as those extra runs might come handy once the dew kicks in.

Source: PTI News