What did DC’s Meg Lanning and UPW’s Kiran Navgire say in the post-match conference?

Two-time runners up of the Women’s Premier League (WPL), Delhi Capitals registered a nail biting six-wicket win over the UP Warriorz on Wednesday. With this win, the Capitals climbed to the second spot on the points table with four points, making a comfortable come-back after being thrashed by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Meanwhile, Deepti Sharma’s UP Warriorz continue to struggle, and are yet to secure their first points.

Winning skipper Meg Lanning addressed the questions of the press.

On winning a game after a disappointing performance against RCB, Lanning said, “It was nice to bounce back as a team. We felt like we didn’t put our best effort out the other night so the good thing about this tournament is it comes around thinking fast about the game, so we had the opportunity to go out there and try and keep improving, which I think we did. I think that was our best game for the tournament, but we still feel like there’s areas where we can get better, which is a really good thing, but certainly nice to get the wind heading into the games in Bangalore.”

The Warriors were off to a flying start in the powerplay overs. “I thought UP Warriors really took the game to us early but to be able to claw it back to 165, I think was a great effort from the bowling unit. I thought Annabel Sutherland bowled extremely well to get some key wickets up front and we were able to keep taking wickets throughout the innings and that’s proved to be really important in this tournament so far. So,165 we felt was certainly chaseable at the halfway mark.”

Speaking about Sarah Bryce’s impactful cameos – 21 and 23, the Australian stalwart said, “Yeah, absolutely. Bryce has come in and really taken to the tournament- she looks, not out of place at all. She’s played some important innings for us in the first few games, I think under some pressure and it’s nice to see her doing well. She’s great around the group as well.”

On seeing the crowd in Baroda, Lanning said that the atmosphere was amazing and incredible. She mentioned that it was so loud that one could barely hear in the middle of the ground, which made it a great experience. She emphasized the excitement of playing in front of passionate crowds and putting on a performance, something the team had been able to do.

Lanning also described the stadium as incredible and shared that they had enjoyed their time there. She noted that the weekends had something for everyone and that across the six or eight games played, there had been opportunities for both batters and bowlers. She expressed that it had been a great experience in Baroda and that it was nice to explore the city. Now, the team would move on to Bangalore, a place they were familiar with from last year.

Having played two close encounters, Lanning said that it has been nice to win two close ones, as it shows they are able to hold their composure to an extent and get over the line. She added that in T20 cricket, teams are not always going to play their best, and the format can be quite fickle at times. Being able to secure a win even when not performing at their best is a really good sign.

With two wins and one loss heading into Bangalore, she believes it is a great effort, considering they have faced tough sides in a highly competitive tournament. Having played in Bangalore last year, the team is familiar with the conditions and is excited to move to a new city and play some good cricket moving forward.

Applauding Australia’s Sutherland – 5 wickets and 63 runs in 3 games, Lanning said, “I thought she was outstanding tonight with the ball initially to get those breakthroughs early when we were really under pressure. And then just to hold her nerve through the batting inning, she probably felt like she wasn’t hitting and hitting them as well as she would have liked. But to have that sort of stability at one end allowed me to come in and really play with freedom.”

Lanning lit the stage on fire as Capitals were brilliant in the run-chase. “The ball seemed to slide on pretty nicely from the start, which we saw in the first inning, so it’s important to maximize the power play. Shefali makes it a little bit easier. She only knows one way, which is great, and I think that, it plays a really important role for setting up the innings to get ahead of the run rate a little bit early, just takes a little bit of pressure off through the middle and back end,” she added.

Bringing the other dugout in the limelight, Kiran Navgire answered the questions of the press. Navgire stole the show with her 27-ball 51 which provided a perfect stage for the middle order batters.

Talking about the pitch conditions, Navgire said, “The pitch was conducive for batting, and it was a high scoring match. 180 is enough and a-game winning score and we were 10-15 runs short and can be the reason for us being on the backfoot.”

On her mindset from the previous game, the opening batter said, “My mindset was not different. I just watched the ball and tried to hit it. Aim is to maximise the power play overs. Team’s plan was to hit hard – and I just tried to execute it.”

Talking about the discussions while defending the chase, she said, “The discussions involved taking the game till the very end and maximising the dot ball percentage. Plan was to concentrate on bowling dot balls rather than taking wickets- as it was a flat wicket.”

“Winning and losing is a part of the game. The positive from the game is that our team is well balanced and will back each other. We will try to win every game in Bengaluru,” she added.

Backing her skipper, the 30-year-old said, “Deepti is a very cool captain as she handles every player without any pressure.”

Speaking about the confidence that she gained from the innings, “The innings is giving a lot of confidence as the shots were coming off nicely from the bat. The winning knock will also come going forward in the tournament.”

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