That's it from our coverage of match number 7 in the Women's Premier League 2026! A final ball thriller at the DY Patil Stadium. Jemimah Rodrigues' Delhi Capitals have their first points on the board with a tight win. Brilliant performances from Shafali Verma with both ball and bat then Lizelle Lee took the game away with effortless hitting.
That will be it from our side tonight, Ninaad Dixit here signing off on behalf of my co-commentator Dev Rajawat, scorer Ghanendra Singh Thakur and statistician Aman. Stay tuned for more action from around the world.
Most Wickets in the first over in WPL:
6 - Marizanne Kapp
3 - Nat Sciver-Brunt
3 - Deandra Dottin
Instances of Successful Chases on Final Ball in WPL: MI vs DC, Bengaluru, 2024 (T: 172) DC vs MI, Vadodara, 2025 (T: 165) RCB vs MI, Navi Mumbai, 2026 (T: 155)
DC vs UPW, Navi Mumbai, 2026* (T: 155)
Shafali Verma (Player of the Match): "I am confident in my bowling. If you bowl well in the World Cup final you obviously feel the confidence. As a batter it is tough to defend 200 all the time. I wanted to cut out the boundaries and it felt well.
I am a hard hitter so I know where to bowl. I think that I am bowling to myself and I do not want to concede a maximum so I know what variations to use.
It was a turning track so you have to work on it. I worked on both my sweeps. Yes I was dismissed on the reverse sweep but I work in the nets on that shot. I will bring more shots and do better on different wickets.
I batted for the last 3 years with Meg Lanning and she knows me really well. I am gelling well with Lizelle Lee and are happily turning the strike to the one who is hitting the ball well. Tonight's win will boost our confidence further."
Player of the Match: Shafali Verma
Jemimah Rodrigues (Delhi Capitals Captain): “I’m very happy. I know it was a nail-biting finish, but I’m extremely proud of the way the girls played and kept their calm. These things happen in cricket, but it feels really good to be on the winning side.
The chase did go down to the wire, but honestly, the dugout was quite calm throughout. Even when I walked in, it felt composed, and I think that’s very important. It did get a bit nervy towards the end, especially after I lost my wicket - it felt like deja vu with seven runs needed, but the way Kapp and the rest finished it off was brilliant.
From a bowling perspective, I thought we were really good today. The way Sneh came back and picked up a first-ball wicket just shows how quickly cricket can change. One day might not go your way, but the next day you can make a big impact. That wicket was crucial for us to regain momentum.
Meg and Harleen played really well for them, but overall, I was happy with how all our bowlers performed. The standout for me was Shefali. She always finds a way to contribute to Delhi Capitals, whether it’s with the bat or the ball, and today she did exactly that.
I wouldn’t say Shefali was my last bowling option at all. The way she bowled in the previous game and the confidence she has make a big difference. She’s the kind of player who’d say yes to bowling even if you woke her up from her sleep. That kind of belief gives a captain a lot of trust in their bowlers, and today she was absolutely phenomenal.”
Time for the Post-Match Presentations...
Lizelle Lee (DC): "There was some communication gap. I thought they said they are gonna retire me after the over so I thought let's swing and see what happens but that was not the communication but that's what me and the keeper heard so we basically laughed. The team did extremely well to take us over the line on that one.
[opening stand] Shafali's been hitting the ball extremely well in the nets. I am happy for her. She got some runs tonight. She deserves it because she's putting in a lot of hard work.
[Shafali's bowling] Definitely. Especially that first over but I think all 3 overs she mixed really well. Some of those quick balls even surprised me and hit my hands really hard but she did extremely well for us tonight.
It's the crowd that does everything for us and now that's so quiet, I had to do something. I'm really enjoying keeping. I feel like I'm trusting my hands since Big Bash so it's just been going really well."
Meg Lanning (UP Warriorz Captain): "I thought it was an excellent effort from our bowlers to pull it back and take the game right down to the final ball. It definitely became harder to bat first, especially once the pace was taken off the ball. That was something we learned from how the Delhi Capitals bowled, and I thought they executed that plan extremely well. We always felt we were in the game if we could bowl well, and the team deserves a lot of credit for fighting it out until the very end.
It was nice personally to get a few runs and contribute. I would’ve liked to keep going a bit longer, but it always feels good to put something on the board for the team. Hopefully, there are a few more of those to come.
On Deol’s retirement, there was definitely a method behind that decision. With the death overs coming up, we felt we needed to maximise that phase. Deol batted extremely well, but it was getting tougher out there, and we felt she had got a little stuck towards the end - something I experienced as well. These decisions are always about what’s best for the team. I stand by it - it didn’t work today, but sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn’t.
Deandra Dottin's absence was purely a tactical call. We felt Chloe Tryon was a good match-up against one of Delhi’s batters, and I thought she did her role really well in her first game of the WPL. That was the balance we felt suited this game best.
There’s not much time to dwell on this with another game coming up quickly, and that’s probably a good thing. There are plenty of positives to take from tonight, along with areas we know we need to improve. We’ll take confidence from how we finished the game and look forward to tomorrow against the Mumbai Indians, who have some world-class players. We’re really excited for that challenge.”
10:51 PM IST, Local Time: Another last ball scare but the Delhi Capitals finally get their first win under Jemimah Rodrigues and register their first point in the points table after a crushing 7-wicket victory over the UP Warriorz.
Lizelle Lee was the star with the bat after Shafali Verma (2/16), Marizanne Kapp (2/14) and Shree Charani (1/29) bowled excellent spells and restricted UP Warriorz to 154/8. Skipper Meg Lanning after losing the toss scored 54 with Harleen Deol hitting 47 in 36 balls before she was asked to retire by coach Abhishek Nayar - a move that triggered a big collapse after 17 overs.
The Capitals started off the chase extremely well with Lee and Verma smashing the new ball to all parts of the park to add 94 runs in 11.3 overs. Verma hit 36 in 32 balls with 6 fours before Asha Shobana removed her in the 12th over, Deepti Sharma taking a surreal catch.
Lee moved past her 50 in 31 balls and was dismissed by Deepti in the 15th over miscuing a shot to Kiran Navgire at long on. Her 67 off 44 balls comprised of 8 fours and 3 maximums. Laura Wolvaardt at number 3 held one end and remained unbeaten to score the winning runs.
Skipper Jemimah Rodrigues scored 21 off 14 and looked to take on Deepti in the 19th over with just 7 needed in 8 balls but lobbed a simple catch to Harleen Deol in the deep. Sophie Ecclestone who conceded 36 in her 3 overs bowled the final over and had 6 runs to defend.
She started with a dot, bowled a full toss which was struck to the fence by Marizanne Kapp. Followed by a yorker and a low full toss that resulted in dots. A LBW appeal and a failed review conceded a leg bye on the 5th delivery leveling the scores.
Needing just 1 to win off the final ball and the field coming all in to defend, Marizanne Kapp crunched a drive through the covers, pierced the field successfully and finished the game with a boundary remaining unbeaten on 25 off 24.
Asha Shobana was the pick of the bowlers with 1/20, Kranti Gaud conceded just 10 runs in her 2 overs at the top with Shikha Pandey conceding 22 wicketless runs in her 4 overs. Deepti Sharma picked up 2/26 and was a late introduction to the attack. Sophie Ecclestone and Chloe Tryon conceded a combined 79 runs in their 7 overs.
DC now move up the ladder to number 4 with their first 2 points. UP Warriorz will have to wait to get off the mark in the season.