Sawt Falasteen - Wong, Matthews limit Delhi to 131-9 in WPL final

Delhi seemed to crumble under pressure after electing to bat first but a late blitz from Shikha Pandey (27) and Radha Yadav (27) lifted the team from a precarious 79-9 to bat out the innings at Mumbai's Brabourne Stadium.

England pace bowler Wong rattled the opposition top-order and then Matthews' off spin demolished the Delhi batting as she returned figures of 3-5.

Delhi looked down and out before number eight Shikha put on an unbeaten 52-run 10th-wicket stand off just 24 balls with Radha to take the total past 100 and give their bowlers a total to defend.

Wong struck twice in her first over, the second of the match, with the wickets of Shafali Verma (11) and Alice Capsey (0) in the space of three deliveries to push Delhi on the backfoot.

Lanning and Jemima Rodrigues hit back with four boundaries in five balls but Wong struck again with the wicket of Rodrigues as Delhi fell to 35-3.

The in-form Lanning, who captain's Australia in all three formats, consolidated her top spot in the tournament batting chart with 345 runs but her run out hurt Delhi badly.

Delhi kept losing wickets and collapsed from 73-3 with Amelia Kerr picking up two wickets to return impressive figures of 2-18.

Matthews, an opening batter from West Indies, took three wickets including two in her final over to leave Delhi reeling but Shikha and number 11 Radha tore into the attack with five fours and three sixes between them.

Delhi looked a different team from the side that had made a direct entry into the final after ending top of the five-team table, as the nearly packed crowd at the 20,000 capacity stadium kept up the noise.

The WPL is already the second most lucrative domestic women's sport competition globally after WNBA basketball in the United States.

F.AbuShamala--SF-PST