Will Delhi Capitals be able to stop the Ellyse Perry juggernaut in the title clash with RCB?

Public Relations Webdesk: The in-form Delhi Capitals, led by the inspirational Meg Lanning, will be hoping to be second time lucky and win their maiden Women’s Premier League title when they take on Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Arun Jaitley-led final. Stadium on Sunday. After missing out on the title in the inaugural edition of the WPL last year, losing to Mumbai Indians by seven wickets in the final, DC looked to be a refreshed team this year. DC have been in great form this year and top the five-team league standings with 12 points from eight matches.

Lanning has led DC from the front and scored 308 runs in eight innings, while South African all-rounder Marizanne Kapp and Australian left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen are the leading wicket-takers for the team with 11 wickets each this season. DC’s only two losses came against Mumbai Indians and UP Warriors. Barring those two matches, they have enjoyed an almost perfect campaign. Going into the final, they will certainly start as favourites, having never lost to RCB in four encounters. But having said that, in the last The results will hardly matter in the final. This will be a new day and the team that can handle the pressure and expectations will win the title. DC will hope that the explosive Shafali Verma will provide them a fast start along with Lanning.

Jemimah Rodrigues is in good position in the middle, but Lanning will expect more contributions from all-rounders like Alice Capsey and Kapp. On the bowling front, Jonassen has been the star performer, but Kapp and Shikha Pandey have also contributed.Left-handed RCB spinner Radha Yadav has also been impressive with 10 wickets and the home team will certainly be heavily reliant on their spinners on the relatively slow Kotla pitch. RCB, on the other hand, finished third after an inconsistent performance in the league stage, losing a number of matches. Got eight points, but clicked when it mattered and defeated defending champions MI by five runs in the eliminator on Friday. All-rounder Ellyse Perry will be the key to RCB’s success on Sunday as she top-scored with 312 runs. Apart from being a ball player, the Australian has also been impressive with the ball and took seven wickets. Had it not been for Perry’s all-round performance against MI on Friday, the result could have been different. He first played a crucial inning of 66 runs in 50 balls and then played a crucial role in RCB’s journey to the final with figures of 1/29.

But Perry will expect more support with the bat from captain Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Devine, Richa Ghosh and Sophie Molineux. However, if RCB are to stop DC, they will need the efforts of their bowlers, especially Renuka Singh, Shreyanka Patil, Georgia Wareham etc. Overall, this promises to be a cracker of a contest, with the balance slightly tilted towards hosts DC.

Teams (from): Delhi Capitals: Tania Bhatia (wk), Laura Harris, Meg Lanning (capt), Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Elise Capsey, Marizanne Kapp, Shikha Pandey, Annabel Sutherland, Jess Jonassen, Minnu Mani, Poonam Yadav. Arundhati Reddy, Titas Sadhu, Radha Yadav, Ashwani Kumari, Aparna Mandal, V Sneha Deepti.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Richa Ghosh (wk), Disha Cassatt, Smriti Mandhana (captain), Sabbineni Meghna, Indrani Roy, Satish Shubha, Heather Knight, Simran Bahadur, Nadine de Klerk, Sophie Devine, Shreyanka Patil, Ellyse Perry, Asha Sobhana. Ekta Bisht, Kate Cross, Sophie Molyneux, Shraddha Pokharkar, Renuka Singh, Georgia Wareham.