The captain scored her first fifty before the spin bowlers caused trouble for the Giants, who have now lost four games in a row.
Delhi Capitals moved to the top of the WPL table after Meg Lanning scored a half-century and Jess Jonassen delivered another excellent bowling performance.
Gujarat Giants remained winless in Bengaluru on Sunday, having missed five chances on the field after winning the toss and choosing to bowl. Lanning was one of the players they missed, and she punished them with a 41-ball 55, despite Meghna Singh's impressive four-wicket haul. During her innings, Lanning surpassed 9,000 T20 runs. Her performance was the standout for the Capitals, while Alice Capsey made a good start and Annabel Sutherland played a neat cameo of 20 runs from 12 balls.
Ashleigh Gardner scored a menacing 40 off 31 balls, but when she was dismissed by Jonassen, who also took 3 for 21 against RCB on Thursday, the Giants were still searching for their first win since the sixth match of the 2023 WPL. Radha Yadav claimed a valuable 3 for 20 for the Capitals, putting the result beyond doubt.
Jonassen completes the task
Titas Sadhu made her WPL debut after playing seven T20Is for India. She opened the bowling in the absence of Marizanne Kapp and started with a maiden. The Capitals launched their defence of 163 for 8. Shikha Pandey took a wicket with her third ball. The delivery came in late and crept through the gap between Laura Wolvaardt's bat and pad to crash into the top of the leg stump, removing the South Africa opener for a three-ball duck. Pandey missed an opportunity to get a wicket when she hit Beth Mooney's pad in line with the middle stump. However, the Capitals chose not to review the on-field decision.
In the second over of Sadhu, Phoebe Litchfield scored 11 runs. In the fourth over, Giants were cruising after Mooney and Litchfield hit three fours in four balls off Pandey. But Jonassen came into the attack and pinned Mooney on the front pad next to the stumps. Giants had to rebuild their innings. Jonassen struck again when Litchfield spooned the ball straight to mid-off. The momentum was firmly in the Capitals' favour.
At deep midwicket, Radha dropped a catch off Veda Krishnamurthy when she was on 6. However, the Giants were well behind on 41 for 3 at the end of the powerplay, having already faced 25 dot balls in just seven overs. Gardner then cut loose with a 78m six and a four off Arundhati Reddy. By the halfway point of the innings, the Giants were 72 for 4, needing 92 more. Jonassen returned to the attack with the Giants needing 60 runs from six overs. She all but ended their hopes by pitching the ball on a length outside off-stump as Gardner advanced, swung, and missed. With Gardner too far down the track and the Giants too far behind, Taniya Bhatia whipped off the bails.
Meghna excels for Giants
Shafali Verma displayed her impeccable timing by striking the first ball she faced from Tanuja Kanwar through square leg for four. Two balls later, she lofted a six back over the bowler's head. Unfortunately for Giants, Kanwar dropped a return catch off Shafali at the end of the over, resulting in a loss of 12 runs. Shafali added only three more runs before Meghna caught her comfortably at square leg, with Wolvaardt taking the catch. Lanning and Capsey found a rhythm to take Capitals to 51 for 1 by the end of the powerplay, but Meghna struck again with the crucial wicket of Capsey, who had been in good form with scores of 75 and 46 in the previous two matches. Meghna ended Capsey's latest innings on 27 with a delivery outside off stump, which was sliced to Kanwar at backward point. Meghna wasn't done yet.
Lanning raises her side
The Capitals were put under pressure as 19 deliveries passed without a boundary. Lanning ended the drought by hitting debutant Tarannum Pathan for a six over long-off. From there, she regained her momentum. Lanning was lucky to survive when she mistimed a shot off Mannat Kashyap's delivery and Kathryn Bryce missed an easy catch at mid-off. Gardner gave away 11 runs in her first over and 13 in her second, allowing Lanning to move closer to her half-century. She reached her destination with a powerful hit to the right of midwicket, which was so well-executed that it evaded Gardner's best efforts to stop it just inside the rope at deep midwicket. The next ball brought another four over the covers, but it was Lanning's anguish and Meghna's joy when D Hemalatha moved to her left and held on at cover point to stop the Capitals skipper in full flow after her second half-century of the innings.
Jemimah Rodrigues struggled to score 7 runs off 10 balls before Mannat Kashyap had her caught by Pathan at short third. But with Sutherland and Jonassen at the crease, Capitals remained a dangerous side. Sutherland hit a massive six that travelled 76m off Bryce's bowling. Two balls later, Jonassen was dropped by Hemalatha, who suffered a blow to the forehead as the ball flew through her hands at deep midwicket. As a result, Hemalatha needed a concussion substitute. Jonassen hit a Gardner full toss over the fence at deep square leg but was caught behind by Mooney on the next ball. Kanwar bowled an excellent 17th over and was rewarded with Sutherland's wicket, caught by Gardner at deep midwicket. Meghna caught Arundhati Reddy at long-on, giving Gardner her second wicket. The bowler's relief was palpable. In the WPL, Meghna became the first Indian fast bowler to pick up a four-for by trapping Radha lbw with the last ball of the innings, after Kashyap hit one to extra cover.