Delhi Capitals 126 for 5 (Wolvaardt 47, Rodrigues 34*, Deepti 2-27) beat UP Warriorz 122 for 8 (Deepti 24, Pandey 23*, Kapp 3-30, Charani 2-22) by five wickets
The thrilling end that shouldn’t have been
DC needed 27 off 36 balls with Shafali Verma and Rodrigues in the middle. Shafali wasn’t at her fluent best on a surface where the ball held a little. She was even dropped at deep midwicket a couple of overs ago. But the manner of her dismissal showed how off-colour she looked on the night. A half-tracker from Shikha Pandey outside off was clunked to cover-point. Five balls later, UPW enticed Kapp into going for a big shot by having mid-off and mid-on in the ring. She couldn’t resist and Kranti Gaud took a well-judged catch at mid-off.
Then came Chinelle Henry. She looked to power Deepti Sharma back over her head and only popped a catch back to her to be out for 1 off 4. Just like that, DC had lost 3 for 4 and invited pressure on themselves. But captain Rodrigues kept punching back, with her running between the wickets and then her innate ability to find gaps like few others. She swept Deepti through midwicket in the 17th over and then lofted Asha Sobhana’s legspin inside out over cover in the next to finish 34 not out off 18 and all but seal DC’s qualification.
Wolvaardt rides her luck to put DC on course
For UPW to make a match of it, and raise MI’s hopes, the only currency was wickets. Deandra Dottin, brought in for Chloe Tryon, delivered with her fifth ball by having Lizelle Lee caught by mid-off running back. They also bowled Pandey and Dottin through the powerplay unchanged, with regular new-ball bowler Gaud coming on only in the seventh over. The move seemed to work as DC struggled to force the issue. It could have been more than that had UPW managed to hold onto their chances.
Wolvaardt was the beneficiary of two early dropped catches and a half-chance. She pulled a shortish ball towards midwicket in the fourth over but Sophie Ecclestone couldn’t hang on. In the next over, Dottin at backward point only got her fingertips to a hard slash. And then in the seventh over, Asha couldn’t hang on to a sitter at short third when Wolvaardt hopped and cue-ended her cut. Gaud’s second over then afforded Wolvaardt the chance to cut loose and she hit four fours in the ninth over.
Kapp, Henry swing early exchanges DC’s way
It was only the seventh time in the WPL – second time in WPL 2026 – that Kapp did not bowl the first over. Henry started the proceedings and returned the perfect result for DC – an outswinger that started from middle and leg and trapped Meg Lanning lbw for a first-ball duck. This was despite Kapp enjoying a superior match-up with Lanning. It was as if UPW couldn’t recover from this jolt, despite Deepti and Charli Knott, on WPL debut, putting a few away. They had lost three wickets inside the powerplay, and five inside ten overs.
Unusually, Kapp conceded runs at an economy of over eight in her three overs in the powerplay even though UPW scored at barely a run a ball. She also bowled ten dot balls and prised out two wickets – Knott caught behind with a bumper, and Deepti’s sliced skier caught at extra cover. UPW had dotted up 31 balls in their first eight overs.
Shaikh, Pandey cameos give UPW’s total respectability
Simran Shaikh showed her intent with the bat quite early, even if UPW were losing wickets regularly. She ensured Kapp finished with an economy rate that was higher than average on the night, punching a length ball between backward point and deep third. She then used the sweep and the reverse sweep against Minnu Mani but fell just as she looked to be playing the perfect foil.
Then Pandey gave them the only other burst with the bat at the death, hitting three fours in her 13-ball 23 not out. She added an unbeaten 28 off just 19 balls with Ecclestone as UPW managed to swell their score to above a run a ball, something that looked unlikely when they were 76 for 7.
S Sudarshanan is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @Sudarshanan7
