Australia and Delhi Capitals skipper Meg Lanning was left awestruck with Shafali Verma's power hitting as she anchored the inning to another end during her side's 10-wicket win over the Gujarat Giants on Saturday, Match 11. Lanning described the 19-year-old's knock as one of the best she has ever seen and said that it was cool to watch from the non-striker's end.
"It was some of the best hitting I've seen. I said just keep it simple. Stay still and hit the ball straight. I'm still to get over it," the five-time World Cup-winning Australian skipper said after their 10-wicket hammering of GG.
"That was a pretty cool show to watch from the other end. I was just cheerleading from the other end. It seemed like a new ball wicket. We just had to make sure what we had to do. Shafali didn't make it look very difficult. Those sort of chases can be tricky if you go into a shell," she added, showering more praise on Shafali," she added.
The young Indian smashed five sixes and 10 fours during her unbeaten 28-ball 76 as she and Lanning (21) made a mockery of the Giants' 106-run target. They won the match in 43 balls.
Lanning was also all praise for Kapp, who bagged a fifer to restrict the Giants to just 106 runs. "Kapp's natural length is one that works on a wicket like this. She was excellent today, I love watching her bowl. She was frustrated with her performances so far -- she shouldn't have been," Lanning said about the South African legend.
Meanwhile, Shafali's attempts to play more straight bore fruit this time around. In their WPL opener, Shafali looked set for a century but got out for 84 off 45 balls. "I got out while playing flick in the last match, so I tried to play straight tonight," Shafali said.
"I wasn't in a hurry, but I was trying to give my best during the run chase. Now we can rest and enjoy ourselves. I would like to thank Lanning for her advice. I want to work hard in future and keep scoring and playing in the same way. We (openers) tried to give our best to the team, and we managed to do so. We backed ourselves during the chase, kept talking to each other, and you know such small things matter as a player," she added.
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(With PTI Inputs)
