It was team effort, really happy to see Niki Prasad contributing: Shikha Pandey post DC's thrilling win over MI

Vadodara, February 16: Delhi Capitals (DC) began their Women's Premier League (WPL) 2025 campaign with a last-ball thriller against Mumbai Indians at Kotambi Stadium in Vadodara. Chasing 165, Delhi needed two runs off the final ball of the match when Arundhati Reddy, who had just come out to bat, held her nerve and took the side over the line, securing a two-wicket victory.

Speaking after the match, Shikha Pandey said, "Last time the tournament opener was pretty much a similar game, it's just that we ended up on the wrong side of the result. This time we are on the right side and it has been a team effort," as quoted from a release by DC.

Led by Pandey's bowling figures of 2/14, Delhi Capitals troubled Mumbai Indians batters earlier and bowled them out for 164.

Reflecting on her performance, Pandey said, "I had a lot of fun bowling with the new ball. I knew that whatever magic I had to do with the new ball had to be done in the first few overs because we followed the game last night and it's going to be a flat wicket. I was just trying to take wickets first up with the new ball. I kind of tell myself that I should be able to swing the ball off the hand and that's something that I've been working on."

Talking about the planning and execution of DC's bowling, the 35-year-old said, "Meg (Lanning) goes by her gut feeling a lot, that's what she keeps telling. The management, coaches and the captain spend a lot of time in matchups. It's not just Mumbai that we plan against but we actually plan against all other teams as well."

Pandey also lauded debutant Niki Prasad who made a valuable contribution of 35 off 33 during the chase.

She said, "I'm really happy for Niki (Prasad) as well. This was her first game and she showed a lot of character in this kind of a high intensity game and took us really close."

Delhi Capitals will take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their second match on February 17.