Australian great Meg Lanning has again donned the orange cap as the Women's Premier League top run-scorer while guiding her Delhi Capitals to a place in the tournament final.
In front of the team's home town fans in the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday, Lanning went past 300 runs for this year's tournament with four boundaries in a quickfire 10-ball cameo of 18 that set Delhi on course for a straightforward seven-wicket win over Beth Mooney's Gujarat Giants.
It confirmed Delhi's place in Sunday's final, where they'll meet either the Ellyse Perry-inspired Royal Challengers Bangalore or reigning champions Mumbai, who'll play in Friday's 'eliminator' semi-final.
The tournament's been another triumph so far for the all-conquering 31-year-old Lanning, who announced her international retirement in November but who's since shown absolutely no sign of a diminishing appetite for either runs or victories as she's moulded the best side in the WPL.
Having been beaten in last year's final by Mumbai, her Delhi team have led the qualifying table with six wins from eight, and have the advantage of three days rest before Sunday's final on their home ground. Â
"We've been excellent right from the start and T20 is such a fickle game that I think going straight through to the finals is an advantage for us," said seven-time World Cup winner Lanning, who now has a league-leading 308 runs after also topping the WPL scoring last season.Â
The Indian league trophy, now the biggest one-day franchise title, is the one big prize in the women's game that's eluded her.
"It'll be a great game in the semi-final and we'll be eagerly watching - and then we'll come up on Sunday and hope we can play our best game in the tournament," said Lanning.
She wouldn't be tempted into saying who she would like to meet in the final - either RCB, with their three Aussies Perry, Sophie Molineux and Georgia Wareham, or Mumbai, the only team in the competition without an Australian player.
But Lanning, who leads the run charts with 308 including four half-centuries, is confident her side, which also features joint-top wicket takers in fellow Aussie Jess Jonassen and South African Marizanne Kapp, are the best out there.
They outplayed the Giants on Wednesday, with Kapp (2-17) bowling Mooney for a duck as the Giants went on to be squeezed to 9-126, with Phoebe Litchfield making 21 off 22 and Ash Gardner a run-a-ball 12.
Lanning's explosive opening partner Shafali Verma cracked 71 off just 37 balls and Jemimah Rodrigues (38no off 28) to make light of the chase, with Delhi reaching their target on 3-129 with 35 balls to spare.
For Mooney, though, despite being the third highest scorer in the league with 285 runs at an average of 47.5, finishing bottom of the table in her first major captaincy gig left her with some harsh reflections about her role.
"Disappointment's a big one. Might have to look at another captain next year," she said. "It's a bit hard for someone like me that hasn't done a heap of it."
