WPL 2025: Amazing to get full-strength Mumbai Indians all out, says Delhi Capitals’ Shikha Pandey

WPL 2025: Amazing to get full-strength Mumbai Indians all out, says Delhi Capitals’ Shikha Pandey

After clinching a nervy two-wicket win over Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals’ Shikha Pandey felt that it was a ‘complete team effort’ despite the side missing key personnel.

“We are still not at full-strength and have some superstars who couldn’t play today. And to get a team like MI, which is paying at full-strength, all out was amazing,” said the 35-year-old, who picked two wickets.

Shikha got the new ball to swing and dented Mumbai’s batting line-up early on, removing openers Hayley Matthews and Yastika Bhatia.

“I knew that whatever magic I had to do with the new ball had to be done in the first few overs. We followed the game last night and knew it was going to be a flat wicket. So, I was just trying to take wickets first, and it worked today,” she said after the match.

Shikha also said that the chase wouldn’t have been this close if not for the Mumbai bowling effort. ”Credit to the MI bowlers. They varied the pace really well. There were a few balls which kept low.”

Mumbai was in a state of bother when Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma notched up a quick fifty-run stand. Shafali in particular was running away with the game, piling the pressure on MI.

“That’s what I was most proud of the group, on how we responded,” said Charlotte Edwards, Mumbai Indians head coach. “We didn’t just give up. We kept coming hard and being aggressive with the ball.”

Edwards felt that the team should have gotten to a 180-plus score, which hurt it at the end, especially with a below-par performance by the middle-order.

“It’s really hard when you follow a big partnership like Harmanpreet (Kaur) and Nat (Sciver-Brunt). They were making it look so easy. I think the run out of Amelia Kerr was massive in this game.

“She would have got us up to that sort of 180-plus and allowed Nat to play more free. Towards the end, Nat had to farm the strike, and we had a couple of casualties. Not batting our overs out is obviously an issue but it’s certainly not a concern for me,” she said.

Published on Feb 16, 2025