Allrounders Jonassen, Kapp send Capitals top

A superb all-round performance from Jess Jonassen has inspired the Delhi Capitals to an important 25-run over Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Jonassen, coming in at 4-124 with five overs remaining, put on an electric partnership with South Africa's Marizanne Kapp to power the Capitals to 5-194, easily the highest total of the competition so far.

Jonassen (36no off 16 balls) belted four fours and two sixes while Kapp (32 off 16) cleared the rope twice.

The Queenslander was particularly strong through the legside and finished the innings with a crisply hit six off Shreyanka Patil that went deep into the Chinnaswamy crowd.

Their partnership came after the Capitals had stumbled in the middle overs, losing 3-14 as Protea Nadine de Klerk took a couple of wickets.

But the foundation had been set by India's Shafali Verma (50 off 31) and England's Alice Capsey (46 off 33), although Meg Lanning (11 off 17) didn’t manage to get going.

Aussies Sophie Molineux and Georgia Wareham both went wicketless.

In reply RCB started strongly with a 77-run opening stand between India's Smriti Mandhana (74 off 43) and New Zealand's Sophie Devine (23 off 17), but as Kapp took the wickets of both Mandhana and Richa Ghosh (19 off 13), the required run rate began to climb.

Jonassen, who had been the most economical of the Capitals bowlers, was tasked with the final over with 28 runs to defend.

The left-arm spinner proceeded to take three tail-end wickets and narrowly missed a hat-trick off the game's penultimate delivery.

It's another timely reminder from Jonassen of what she offers in the shortest format after the 31-year-old was left out of Australia's white-ball squads that will tour Bangladesh later this month.

It's the first time RCB have tasted defeat this season as the Capitals leapfrogged them into top spot.

_{Main image: BCCI}