Deepti Sharma's Hat-Trick Leads UP Warriors To Nail-Biting Win

At the Arun Jaitley Stadium on March 8, Deepti Sharma was the star of the show both with the bat and the ball as the UP Warriors secured an exciting one-run victory following the collapse of the Delhi Capitals.

The Warriorz maintained their winning formula in Delhi this season by batting first, thanks to 59 runs and four wickets for 18, including a hat-trick from Deepti.

Meg Lanning's catch was in vain as the Capitals lost their last seven wickets for only 25 runs in the final three overs, handing the Warriors their third victory of the season and preserving their play-off aspirations.

Deepti Sharma fights by herself

At the Arun Jaitley Stadium, UP Warriorz chose to bat first after winning the toss. After losing to the Mumbai Indians on March 7 despite bowling first, Healy and company were looking to score a lot of runs and continue the Delhi team's winning ways.

But with just 10 runs scored, Kiran Navgire was thoroughly embarrassed by Titas Sadhu's second ball of the inning, making their start less than ideal. After Deepti's excellent knock on Thursday, the Warriorz opted to elevate her to No. 3, and she helped Healy steady the ship.

The captain of UP would have an unusual inning, scoring just 29 off 30 deliveries, with Deepti leading the attack. In the ninth over, Healy would eventually give up, and the DC bowlers would make sure the Warriors didn't score too many runs.

With 62 runs on the board for the loss of three wickets in 9.5 overs, Tahlia McGrath, who entered the game in place of Chamari Athapaththu, was unable to have an impact.

The Warriors were once again saved by Grace Harris and Deepti Sharma, but Harris fell with the score at 95. As UPW was reduced to 116 for 7, this caused a major collapse for the UP side, who lost Sophie Eccelstone, Poonam Khemnar, and Shweta Sehrawat for just 16 runs.

Deepti would rise to the occasion once more, reaching her second fifty of the competition before being removed as the last wicket as the Warriors amassed 138 runs at a cost of eight.

With two wickets apiece from Sadhu and Radha Yadav, the DC bowlers were formidable.

Meg Lanning's effort goes in vain

Before losing Shafali Varma, the Capitals had a respectable start. Saima Thakor then went on to continue her incredible run. After that, it would be Lanning's responsibility to lead the run chase and begin scoring boundaries whenever he pleased.

The DC captain appeared to be the only hitter remaining after Deepti, who appeared to have adjusted to the track's peculiarities. Despite her inability to score on her own volition, Alice Capsey kept company for Lanning.

Eccelstone ultimately defeated Capsey, but Lanning carried on with her strong performance and finished in the top fifty of the 2024 edition. She also made WPL history by being the first player to hit three consecutive fifty-fives.

But after reaching sixty runs, the DC captain was dismissed by Deepti, leaving the host team short of 46 runs in 36 balls.

With Jemimah and Sutherland positioned in the middle, the Indian batsman unleashed a spectacular six-ball to alleviate some of the burden on DC. With DC needing 27 off 18 balls, Saima returned to the field and removed Jemimah to tie the score.

In the final two balls of Saima's over, Jess Jonassen struck a six and a boundary, bringing the total number of balls required from the final 12 balls to 15.

Once again, adding a twist to the story, Deepti bowled the penultimate over and was immediately successful as she cleaned up Sutherland. The momentum of the game began to shift in favour of the Warriors when the all-rounder dismissed Arundhati Reddy off the next delivery. With Lanning out of the last ball of her third over, Deepti had therefore completed her hat-trick.

She became the second player in the WPL 2024 to score a hat-trick, following Issy Wong.

The equation would be 11 off 9 balls if Shikha Pandey hit the third ball for a boundary. Then, just as it appeared that the Capitals were slowly but surely imploding in the run chase, Deepti would take her third wicket of the over with a magnificent fielding effort.

Grace Harris bowled the last over, for which Radha was to bat. But as the first ball vanished for six, DC found themselves back in the lead. After a double, DC just needed two out of four, but Radha sliced the ball right onto her stumps.

With Sadhu to bat, DC still needed two off two, but Jonassen was run out off the following ball. Then, with DC's collapse complete and the Warriors still in the running for the playoffs, Harris would take the final wicket.