WPL 2025 – DC’s Jonathan Batty bats for his team, says ‘no mental block’ in squad despite third finals loss
It is not often that Jemimah Rodrigues is a far cry from her cheerful self. Alice Capsey and Shafali Verma also seldom shy away from a laugh. But as the Delhi Capitals dragged themselves towards the presentation area, the dejection loomed large. A few hundred fans who were cheering Rodrigues, Shafali, Shikha Pandey and the others only got a nod with heads bowed down in response. The players were desperately searching for a shoulder to lean on. For someone to console them, to tell them it was a bad dream.
DC had now lost a third-straight WPL final. In each season, they topped the league stage and earned a direct entry to the title clash. Their margins of defeat in the finals of WPL 2023 and 2024 were seven wickets and eight wickets respectively; but Saturday’s defeat was a mere eight runs.
A narrow defeat in the final notwithstanding, Jonathan Batty brought his funny side out in the press conference. He was facing the media after overseeing a third successive runners-up finish as DC’s head coach. Was there a common theme to each of their three finals’ losses? “The opposition got more runs than we did!”
In the first two seasons, despite having Jasia Akhter and Laura Harris, they couldn’t find the right gear to finish the innings. They lacked lower-order firepower with wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatia batting only five times in 18 matches across the first two seasons. She batted at No. 11 in the WPL 2024 final. But with Scotland wicketkeeper Sarah Bryce in the squad this time, DC could field five overseas players. Despite primarily being a top-order bat, a strike rate of 150 while batting at No. 7 points towards a job well done.
Which is why this defeat would stink DC most. They found a weak link, filled the gap and still ended up at the same spot. Such was the depth that India internationals Arundhati Reddy and Radha Yadav featured in only four and two games respectively. But Batty was not reading much into it and conceded that MI played better on another important night.
“The players were up for it, they were fine and I think there was no mental block at all. But it’s just full credit to the opposition, they outplayed us and deserved to win the game”
Jonathan Batty
“It will take time to think through what went wrong,” Batty said. “Two great quality teams going head-to-head and it was such a tight game. To lose by eight runs, which is two boundaries, we lost it by two balls in the end. That game can go either way from there. I don’t think there was a common denominator. You always have a side that wins and a side that loses, and we have been on the losing side three times unfortunately.
“To finish top of the table three years running, we have played some amazing cricket. You don’t get over the line until [you win] the final. Everyone’s hurting a huge amount at the moment. I think 99% of the time you back yourself to chase 150 on that wicket there. Big match finals, maybe the occasion got to the players.”
Twice DC opted to set a target in the finals, twice they crumbled to a below-par score. So Meg Lanning hesitated little in choosing to chase after a third direct final entry. In WPL 2025, teams batting first – dew or no dew – had won all three matches before the final at the Brabourne Stadium. A fresh surface was in use for the final with the square boundaries nearly equidistant. None of that perhaps mattered to Lanning.
But for a third title-clash in a row, DC’s batting failed to live up to expectation. The top order caved in to the pressure Mumbai mounted. At most times, DC’s scores were more than Mumbai’s at the corresponding stage. But it couldn’t cover up for the early stutter that saw DC – chasing 150 – slip to 17 for 2, 44 for 4, 66 for 5 and 83 for 6. Marizanne Kapp briefly rekindled their effusive dream by scoring 40 off 26. But MI held their nerve to concede just 14 off the last two overs and win their second WPL title.
“I don’t think it is a mental block at all,” Batty said. “You look at how we performed with the ball and in the field in the first half to keep them to 149 on that wicket. You see what’s happened through the week, with the eliminator and the other games here, we were expecting probably 180 to be par score, so we were really pleased with that. The players were up for it, they were fine and I think there was no mental block at all. But it’s just full credit to the opposition, they outplayed us and deserved to win the game.
“Chasing 150, you expect the batting unit to play positive, aggressive cricket, and you should, nine times out of ten, win that game at a bit of a canter – I think 180 was par on that wicket. Full credit to Mumbai Indians, they never let us get ahead of the run rate.”
Kapp bowled an opening spell that made Lanning’s toss call seem right. It looked as if a side batting first in a WPL final would end up with a low score again. Harmanpreet Kaur’s middle-overs assault was menacing, but the score was not beyond DC at any stage. And despite Mumbai scoring 25 off the last two overs, figures of 2 for 37 at the death was not a blemish on DC’s bowling.
“I thought Harmanpreet took the attack to us,” Batty said. “I thought we bowled pretty well and she took a few risks and got away with it, she backed herself to do that. Coming out of the powerplay, we were in charge of the game. There was always going to be a partnership at some point. Nat Sciver-Brunt and Harmanpreet Kaur’s partnership was the pivotal one for them, it has been the whole season. To break through that and then reduce the total we were chasing in the end was a really good effort. We held our nerve fantastically through that partnership.”
It was a case of being so near yet so far once again for DC. Batty’s humour can alleviate their pain only so much.
S Sudarshanan is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @Sudarshanan7
