WPL 2024: What to expect as Meg Lanning’s Delhi Capitals take on Alyssa Healy’s UP Warriorz

WPL 2024: From Alyssa Healy (c) to Grace Harris (above, right) and Chamari Athapaththu, the UP Warriorz have some of the biggest names in international women's cricket on their side. Will they be able to turn the team's fortunes around? (Image via X/@wplt20)

Could this be the end game for UP Warriorz? Currently second to last in the Women's Premier League (WPL) 2024 Points Table, UP Warriorz have lost four out of six matches so far and have a net run rate in the negative. Including today's WPL match, they have just two matches left before the WPL 2024 play-offs on March 15 (the second match is against the Gujarat Giants on March 11).

The last time Meg Lanning’s Delhi Capitals played against Alyssa Healy’s UP Warriorz in the ongoing WPL season, the Capitals had won by nine wickets with 33 balls remaining!

The UP Warriorz will need to dig deep as they again take on the 2024 WPL points table leader Delhi Capitals (who've won four out of their five matches so far) on their home turf - the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi - on Friday, March 8.

It will be the second match for the Warriorz in as many nights and also the only instance this season in which a team plays on back-to-back days. The toss will take place at 7pm India time and the first ball is scheduled for 7:30pm.

WPL 2024 Delhi Capitals vs UP Warriorz: Recent form

In their last WPL 2024 face-off in Bengaluru on February 26, Delhi Capitals pace bowler Marizanne Kapp’s 3 for 5, and a mammoth 119-run opening stand between Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma, with each scoring 50 apiece, blew away the Warriorz. Capitals won the match by nine wickets, with 5.3 overs to spare.

As recent form goes, table-toppers Capitals’ only loss in their five appearances so far came in the opening match. Their four straight victories since have given them a strong chance to finish atop the table at the end of the league stage for a second straight season.

The Warriorz, meanwhile, have lost four of their six matches, two of those coming in their last two appearances. On Thursday, they received a 42-run drubbing at the hands of Harmanpreet Kaur’s Mumbai Indians, causing them to slump to No. 4 on the points table.

WPL 2024 Delhi Capitals vs UP Warriorz: Players to watch

Radha Yadav, the 23-year-old left-arm spinner, has picked up eight wickets so far in the Capitals’ five games, including a three-for and a four-for. An out-of-favour India international who last played a T20I in February last year, Radha’s performance at the ongoing WPL could bring her back into national reckoning in what is a T20 World Cup year.

Deepti Sharma struck her first WPL half-century in the game against Mumbai on Thursday. Though it came in a losing cause, the left-hander’s unbeaten 53 at No. 5, off just 36 balls at that, was a welcome sight, given her reputation for chewing up deliveries and inability this season to up the scoring rate.

WPL 2024 Delhi Capitals vs UP Warriorz: Squads

DC: Meg Lanning (c), Jess Jonassen, Marizanne Kapp, Alice Capsey, Laura Harris, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Shikha Pandey, Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Arundhati Reddy, Taniya Bhatia, Minnu Mani, Sneha Deepthi, Titas Sadhu, Annabel Sutherland, Aparna Mondal, Aswani Kashyap

UPW: Alyssa Healy (c), Anjali Sarvani, Deepti Sharma, Grace Harris, Kiran Navgire, Chamari Athapaththu, Laxmi Yadav, Parshavi Chopra, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, S Yashasri, Shweta Sehrawat, Sophie Ecclestone, Tahlia McGrath, Danni Wyatt, Uma Chetry, Saima Thakor, Poonam Khemnar, Gouher Sultana

WPL 2024 Delhi Capitals vs UP Warriorz: Coaches

DC: Jonathan Batty (England)

UPW: Jon Lewis (England)