Shafali and Jonassen effort DC into playoffs now

Shafali Verma and Jess Jonassen smashed merciless unbeaten fifties to steer Delhi Capitals (DC) into the WPL 2025 playoffs with a nine-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Saturday. RCB lost for the fourth time in a row, and they finished the tournament without a victory in Bengaluru. Ellyse Perry scored an unbeaten 60 to help RCB post 147 for 5, but it wasn't enough to beat the table-toppers, who had Shikha Pandey and Shree Charani, a left-arm spinner for the first time, take two wickets each. The chase though got off on a tricky note for DC, who lost Meg Lanning in the third over, but Shafali and Jonassen put on an unbroken 146 for the second wicket off just 77 balls - the highest partnership for any wicket in a WPL run chase. With 27 balls remaining, DC romped home and silenced the Chinnaswamy. Perry anchors RCB innings Perry came into this game with three fifties in RCB's first five games, and she was once again central to her team's fortunes on a slow surface. Raghvi Bist (33 off 32) and Danni Wyatt-Hodge (21 off 18) both got starts, but neither scored a lot. It was left to Perry to anchor the innings and keep the scorecard ticking at a healthy rate. Perry hit a wide half-volley over the covers for four in Pandey's next over, coming in after Pandey had bowled Smriti Mandhana out for another low score in the second over. She then hit a six each off spinners Jonassen, Charani and Minnu Mani. Perry won the second wicket with Wyatt-Hodge with a brisk 44 and the third with Bist with a 66. With Bist struggling to middle the ball, however, that partnership consumed 54 balls. In the 14th over, Perry scored her fourth fifty of the season using 37 balls. RCB were 119 for 2 at the end of the 16th over, aiming for a strong finish. But they couldn't get anything going, scoring just 28 runs in the last four overs and losing three wickets. Perry only faced seven balls in the last five overs, scoring eight runs off them. With 295 runs in six innings, Perry has overtaken Nat Sciver-Brunt to become the tournament's leading run-scorer. Charani shines on debut DC preferred Charani over fast bowler Titas Sadhu and she looked in her element. Unfazed by the huge turnout at the Chinnaswamy, Charani used the turn that was on offer in the first innings, kept the stumps in play, constantly angling the ball into middle and leg over the course of a tight spell. She ended with figures of 2 for 28 from four overs after removing Bist and Richa Ghosh in a momentum-changing 17th over to deflate RCB at the end. Chinnaswamy fast follows Chinnaswamy feast for Mandhana Mandhana owned the Chinnaswamy during WPL 2024, scoring 219 runs in five innings, including two half-centuries, at a strike rate of 154.22. She has, however, fallen victim to poorly timed shots this season, scoring just 50 runs in four innings at her home park with a strike rate of 102.04 percent. On Saturday, she chased a Pandey delivery shaping away from off stump and edged to Lanning at wide slip. Left-right combination works for DC RCB had an excellent start to their bowling powerplay, conceding just five runs in the first three overs. Renuka Singh's swing was very well controlled, and almost all of her shots ended up in the stumps. She took Lanning out for a 12-ball 2, and Perry took a good chance at midfield. But once Jonassen joined Shafali, runs started flowing for DC, and it became hard for RCB to keep them quiet.