Delhi got off to a brilliant start with the bat as skipper Meg Lanning (72 off 43) and Shafali Verma (84 off 45) added 162 for the opening wicket. Shafali was in complete domination mode, hammering 10 fours and four sixes. Lanning, on the other hand, struck 14 fours. Marizanne Kapp (39* off 17) and Jemimah Rodrigues (22* off 15) then added an unbroken 60 for the third wicket as DC ended with a flourish.

RCB lost Sophie Devine for 14 in the chase, after which skipper Smriti Mandhana and Ellyse Perry gave them hope. Both were, however, dismissed in the 30s. Perry was DC left-arm pacer Tara Norris’ first victim, who went on to claim four more scalps and finished with figures of 5/29. Heather Knight top-scored for Bangalore with 34, while Megan Schutt’s unbeaten 30 off 19 ensured they did not get bowled out.

Speaking after the win, skipper Meg Lanning said, “It was a lot of fun, great venue to play at and the crowd was amazing. Great atmosphere. We were thinking about bowling but we weren’t too concerned about batting.”

On her opening partnership with Shafali, she added, “Was fun watching Shafali bat from the other end. It was a lot fun, we were smiling all the time. That’s the great thing about this competition, you get to play with players you wouldn’t have otherwise played with.”

Sharing her views on the total, Lanning said, “We felt like it was a good score but it was such a good wicket so we knew we had to bowl well. It’s great to begin the tournament with a win.”

RCB captain Mandhana admitted that her bowlers gave away too many runs. Speaking on the disappointing performance, she commented, “We gave away too many runs, around 20-30 runs too many. As a pace bowling unit, we didn’t go about badly, that’s something we’ll take away from this game. We have back-to-back games, we’ll have to take away some positives from the game before coming back tomorrow.”

Bangalore take on Mumbai Indians in the Mandhana vs Harmanpreet Kaur clash in Brabourne Stadium on Monday, March 6.

–By A Cricket Correspondent