Lanning takes on her former team as DC, UPW search for first win

Despite appearing to have all bases covered on paper, UPW's all-international bowling attack hasn't fired as expected

Vishal Dikshit

13-Jan-2026 • 4 hrs ago

Big picture: DC and UPW aim for take off

The team Meg Lanning left after three season and the team Meg Lanning has taken charge of this season are in the same boat right now - winless and occupying the bottom two places of the WPL points table. The fourth position is more out of place for Delhi Capitals (DC) - now led by Jemimah Rodrigues - who topped the league stage in the previous three years, in which UP Warriorz (UPW) made the playoffs only once.

Time quickly runs out in WPL because two more losses for either of these teams and they will almost be in must-win territory.

DC started with a thrashing at the hands of Mumbai Indians (MI) but they bounced back spectacularly by against Gujarat Giants (GG). They brought down the chase of 210 to seven required off the last over with seven wickets in hand, and it was a task they should have completed to give themselves and their new captain a confidence boost.

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In UPW, they face an opposition who started much better - coming close to a 200-plus chase against GG - and then going down by nine wickets to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). UPW's problems look much deeper - their bowlers have struggled to make inroads so far and they have leaked runs at nearly 11 an over even though they have an all-international bowling attack that covers all bases on paper, with a blend of experience and youth. They also changed their batting order in their last game by moving Kiran Navigre down the order for some late strikes but that clearly backfired.

What also binds UPW and DC together is no bowling attack has been as expensive as theirs - until the Tuesday game - with UPW's economy rate (10.94) closely followed by DC's (10.1).

Team news & likely XIs

Nothing looks wrong with UPW's XI on paper, but they will be concerned by the economy rates of Deandra Dottin (15.80) and legspinner Asha Sobhana (13.25). Might be early days, but UPW will have to bring in an uncapped player if they want to replace either of those players.

UP Warriorz (probable): 1 Kiran Navgire, 2 Meg Lanning (capt), 3 Phoebe Litchfield, 4 Harleen Deol, 5 Shweta Sehrawat (wk), 6 Deandra Dottin, 7 Deepti Sharma, 8 Sophie Ecclestone, 9 Asha Sobhana, 10 Shikha Pandey, 11 Kranti Gaud

After a near-perfect game against GG, DC may not have a reason to change their XI too. It remains to be seen when they will give a chance to the 16-year-old hard-hitting batter Deeya Yadav.

Delhi Capitals: 1 Shafali Verma, 2 Lizelle Lee (wk), 3 Laura Wolvaardt, 4 Jemimah Rodrigues (capt), 5 Marizanne Kapp, 6 Niki Prasad, 7 Chinelle Henry, 8 Sneh Rana, 9 Minnu Mani, 10 N Shree Charani, 11 Nandani Sharma

Big question

For the last three years, UPW have relied heavily on their overseas players and Deepti Sharma. That trend seems to continue this year too, even though there has been a change in leadership.

In the spotlight: Nandani Sharma and Harleen Deol

Nandani Sharma is among the fresh faces this WPL who has hit the high notes early in the season. The 24-year-old medium-pacer from Chandigarh took two wickets on WPL debut and followed it with a historic five-for that included a hat-trick in the last over against GG. One of the highlights of her bowling so far has been to excel under pressure, proven by her dismissal of Sophie Devine and then striking multiple times in the death overs. If she can sustain her performance against UPW and through the season to bag an India cap in the future, she will be among the few pace bowlers who made the leap from the WPL to international cricket.

Even though Harleen Deol has batted in different positions so far, her scores hardly reflect her stature of an experienced India batter. Since UPW will be desperate for their Indian batters to step up, a big contribution from Harleen will bode well for the rest of their season. She could return to the middle order on Wednesday and whether it's early or as a finisher for quick runs, some runs under her belt could turn their season around.

Key stats

Lizelle Lee has scored 37 off 25 and been dismissed once across four meetings against Deandra Dottin in T20Is. But when it comes to T20 leagues (WBBL and Kia Super League), it is a one-sided battle. Dottin has dismissed Lee in all four meetings, across 14 balls for two runs. However, the last time they faced each other was back in 2022.

Meg Lanning against her former DC team-mate Marizanne Kapp will be something to watch out for. In T20s since the start of 2020, they have faced off in nine innings, and Lanning has scored just 26 runs off 39 balls while being dismissed five times.

Also, Lanning is four runs away from becoming the third player to 1000 WPL runs.

Every team that has won the toss in the WPL since the start of 2025 has elected to bowl - 28 out of 28 times.

Pitch & conditions

The DY Patil Stadium has hosted half the games it is supposed to so far and has been fairly high-scoring, with the 200 mark breached two times in five of its first innings, before Wednesday. The trend of opting to bowl is likely to continue and Navi Mumbai is likely to see temperatures in mid to early-20s on Wednesday evening.

Vishal Dikshit is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

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