Prasad and Bryce shine on debut for Delhi Capitals

Niki Prasad and Sarah Bryce announced themselves to the Women's Premier League (WPL) with knocks that saw the Delhi Capitals Women register a thrilling last-ball two-wicket victory over the Mumbai Indians Women at the Vadodara Stadium in Gurajat on Saturday.

Meg Lanning, the Capitals captain, won the toss and asked the Mumbai Indians to bat first.

She expected dew to play a part later in the evening. Her side restricted Mumbai Indians to 164.

The Capitals used up all their 120 balls to complete the chase and score 165-8.

Prasad made a name for herself when she led the India Women's U19 team to the title at the 2025 World Cup.

She scored a patient but crucial 35 off 33 (4x4) as she steadied the Capitals' ship.

The Capitals were on 76-4 in the ninth over when she arrived at the crease.

The Capitals were slowly losing their way after a blistering start courtesy of Shafali Verma.

For her calm and composed knock under pressure, Niki Prasad secures the Player Of The Match Award on her #TATAWPL debut 👏👏

With this, @DelhiCapitals are off the mark in Season 3 🙌

Scorecard ▶ https://t.co/99qqGTKYHu#MIvDC pic.twitter.com/RHCp3e7BOy

— Women's Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) February 15, 2025

"This is the first game for me in the WPL. Wanted to go out there and express myself and make sure DC win. I visualised before the match, knew what I had to do, got it done. The situation we were in, just singles would not have been enough. Wanted to get calculative boundaries along with the singles," Prasad said, after the match.

Verma spanked an 18-ball 43 to get the Capitals under way in their chase.

The 21-year-old opener creamed seven fours and two sixes in her brisk knock.

She was particularly severe on Saika Ishaque. The opener bludgeoned 22 runs off her in the second over.

Verma's innings put the Capitals ahead of the game in the powerplay and they were 60-0 when they lost their first wicket in the sixth over.

It was the beginning of a comeback by Mumbai Indians. The Capitals lost four wickets for 16 runs in two overs.

"Niki did an excellent job to come in at a tricky time," Lanning shared after the match.

Prasad and Alice Capsey consolidated and rebuilt with a 33-run fifth-wicket partnership that was undone when Alice Capsey tried to deposit an Amelia Kerr delivery over the boundary ropes.

The Capitals had newfound hope when debutant Sarah Bryce played a thrilling cameo that almost mirrored Verma's knock. She fell for 21 off 10.

Prasad fell while trying to finish the match with a single blow.

The job fell to Arundhati Reddy, whose one responsibility was to score two runs off a single ball, and she did so.

SCHIVER-BRUNT DELIVERS AGAIN WITH THE BAT

Earlier in the day, Nat Sciver-Brunt had played an outstanding innings to lift Mumbai Indians to 164.

She creamed 13 boundaries for her unbeaten 80 off 59 deliveries.

The England allrounder was left stranded after she ran out of partners.

This is her fourth WPL half-century and she faced 36 deliveries to reach the milestone.

The unbeaten score catapulted her to fourth position on the list of batters with the most runs in the history of the WPL.

This is also a new career-best score for Sciver-Brunt. Her previous best was an unbeaten 72 that she scythed in 2023 against the UP Warriorz in the Eliminator to send Mumbai into the final.

Sciver-Brunt walked out to the crease in the first over. Shikha Pandey was in control.

The experienced pacer had just accounted for Hayley Matthews's scalp.

The West Indies star fell for a two-ball duck. Pandey gave little away and the pressure she exerted led to her second wicket in three overs when she dismissed Yastika Bhatia in the fifth over.

Bhatia's wicket paved the way for a 73-run third-wicket partnership between Sciver-Brunt and her captain, Harmanpreet Kaur.

When she arrived at the crease, Harmanpreet Kaur was 37 runs shy of becoming the second Indian woman to complete 8 000 T20 runs.

The MI captain needed only 20 balls to pass that milestone.

Unfortunately for her and her team, she could not kick on to a sixth WPL half-century.

She failed to get enough elevation to beat the fielder at third and fell for a well-played 42 off 22.

Annabel Sutherland was the pick of the bowlers for the Capitals with three wickets for 34 runs in 3.1 overs.

Shikha Pandey was unplayable for her two wickets for 14 runs in four overs.