WPL 2024: Delhi Capitals, UP Warriorz Look to Get off the Mark – News18

The Delhi Capitals (DC) and UP Warriorz both ended up on the wrong side of two cliffhangers in the opening two matches of the tournament against Mumbai Indians (MI) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), respectively. On Monday, one of these two sides will get points on the board when they square off at Bengaluru’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Also Read: MI beat GG by Five Wickets to go Top of Points Table

DC would have thought they were favourites to win on Friday, when MI needed five runs off one ball and with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur back in the pavilion. However, that was not to be the case as S Sajana showed nerves of steel to hit Alice Capsey for a six off the last ball and seal a sensational win for the reigning champions.

What: UP Warriorz vs Delhi Capitals Match 4, WPL 2024

When: February 26, 2024

Where: M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

Time: 7:30 PM IST

Despite the defeat, however, there were several positives for the Meg Lanning led-side, not least the batting performance of Capsey and Jemimah Rodrigues, who ensured DC reached a competitive score in the first innings.

Arundhati Reddy produced an impressive spell of bowling, claiming the wickets of Nat Sciver-Brunt and Yastika Bhatia and DC will hope the performance is the start of a consistent run with the ball for her, during the course of the tournament.

An area of improvement for the side ahead of Monday’s clash would be death bowling and it would be interesting to see if Lanning finishes the overs of spin early and backs the pacers to do the job in the end overs.

If DC suffered a heartbreaking loss defending a score, the Warriorz would have come out of their match against RCB, wondering why they did not finish the game much earlier than when it ended and instead, lost with five runs needed off the last ball.

At 126 for 3 in 16 overs, they were one final flourish away from beginning their campaign with a win and yet could not do so, with leg-spinner Asha Sobhana having a greater say in proceedings in one over of the chase, that turned the match on its head.

Despite the defeat, however, Warriorz, too, had plenty of positives to take into the next match. The spin trio of Deepti Sharma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Sophie Ecclestone efficiently controlled the flow of runs on Saturday and the batting of Grace Harris and Shweta Sehrawat laid the foundation for the side to cross the line.

However, neither sides could do exactly that in their opening two matches and will want to be the first to get off the mark on the points table on Monday.

Likely playing XIs

Both teams could opt to put faith on the same sides that nearly pulled off a win in their opening encounters and would hope that the same set of players help their respective teams cross the finish line on Monday.

Delhi Capitals: Shafali Verma, Meg Lanning (c), Alice Capsey, Jemimah Rodrigues, Marizanne Kapp, Annabel Sutherland, Arundhati Reddy, Minnu Mani, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Radha Yadav, Shikha Pandey.

UP Warriorz: Alyssa Healy (c & wk), Vrinda Dinesh, Tahlia McGrath, Grace Harris, Kiran Navgire, Deepti Sharma, Sophie Ecclestone, Shweta Sehrawat, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Khemnar, Saima Thakor