Follow UsDelhi Capitals head coach Jonathan Batty refused to throw batters under the bus after losing the 2024 Women’s Premier League final against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday (March 17). Openers Shafali Verma and Meg Lanning put on 64 runs in 7.1 overs before DC suffered a significant collapse, losing seven wickets for just 23 runs.
Shafali, Jemimah Rodrigues and Alice Capsey fell to Sophie Molineux in the same over. Shreyanka Patil then scalped four wickets and helped Bangalore dismiss Delhi for only 113 runs. RCB then hunted down the target with eight wickets to spare, winning a trophy for the first time in their history.
"We back our batters to play really aggressive, positive cricket as we have done all tournament. The margins are so small. Those batters who got out in the middle phase in the innings, they get a bat on one of those and it goes for four runs, we get 150 or 180 and it's a completely different game,” said Batty.
“They have been fantastic all tournament, I think we have been one of the standout teams to finish at the top of the table, and our batters have been absolutely amazing.
“Yes, we didn't do ourselves justice with the bat. Left ourselves a few runs short of where we probably should have been after that fantastic start. As a fielding unit, full credit to the players, they were amazing. I don't think we should have done anything differently.”
Meanwhile, Lanning accepted that they were outplayed in the final. "Obviously, disappointing not to get it done. The finals are about playing well on the day. Congratulations to RCB - you outplayed us tonight. It all happened relatively quickly as it tends to do. As we've seen in this tournament, crazy things happen. Full credit to RCB, they fought back really nicely and deserved the win. We did a lot right. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be," she said.
Despite losing the final for the second season in a row, Batty heaped heavy praise on skipper Lanning. The Capitals didn't have too many runs on the board but still managed to take the game till the last over.
"I guess she felt that the seamers were keeping the batters under control. Trying to take the game as deep as possible with only a small total on the board. If anything it worked.
"I thought it was fantastic captaincy; a lot of people would not have done that, would not have been brave enough to do that. So full credit to Meg for doing that and nearly getting us home in the end.
"She puts her heart and soul into this competition at Delhi Capitals. She's been fantastic. I guess she is disappointed as we all are, we felt we didn't do ourselves justice today. We have been brilliant all tournament, full credit to RCB for winning tonight."
Batty was also impressed with how some of the domestic players improved during the course of the tournament. Arundhati Reddy contributed with the ball throughout the competition, while the likes of Minnu Mani and Titas Sadhu also stood tall in the limited opportunities they received.
"Our Indian domestic players stepped up the plate. They've all improved. I have talked before of how hard they have worked over the last 12 months. Once the last season ended, we ran various camps, and we gave them some guidance and advice. But they have been away and worked very, very hard for the last 12 months.
“You could see it... people like Arundhati and Radha stepping up to the plate as well, Titas played a couple of games and was outstanding as well. She is going to be a bright prospect in the future, she's gonna be amazing.
"You look across the tournament, the Indian domestic players are improving all the time. The quality of the cricket in this tournament has been fantastic and a significant uplift on last year, which was already fantastic."