Tense but brilliant victory for the Delhi Capitals. They ensure Mumbai Indians title defence will be unsuccessfulalso DC becomes the only side to make it to the playoffs in all 4 WPL seasons. It was a shaky start for Jemimah Rodrigues the captain losing the first 2 matches of the season but an inspired comeback has led them to the eliminator where they will face the Gujarat Giants! For the first time ever, Meg Lanning will not be featuring in a WPL Final.
That's it from our coverage of the final league fixture in the WPL 2026! Ninaad Dixit here signing off on behalf of my co-commentator Pritam Dey, scorer Paras Yadav and statistician Aman. Stay tuned for more action from around the world.
We now have the three teams confirmed for the WPL 2026 playoffs.
- The Eliminator will be played on Tuesday, where Delhi Capitals will lock horns with Gujarat Giants.
- The winner of the Eliminator will then face RCB in the Grand Finale on Thursday.
Marizanne Kapp (Player of the Match): "[on her bowling] It's hard to be happy when one of your skills is down. Happy with contributing to the win.
[on the wickets] I was lucky to pick up wickets. Any team if you get them 3 down in the powerplay you get an advantage in the game. Happy to strike.
There's always pressure on you to lead the bowling attack. First few games didn't like the wickets that I liked but we still won."
Player of the Match: Marizanne Kapp
Jemimah Rodrigues (Delhi Capitals Women Captain): "I think we were always assured that we are a really good team. There was never a doubt about it. It was just about coming out there, keeping things simple and executing. Even today, I think before we started, there was some calmness in the team. We knew how important this game was but everyone was really calm and professional with their work. That's summed up the day for us.
(On the bowlers) Yeah, I think our bowlers have been doing a great job for us. In T20 cricket, it's never easy for the bowlers. They were sticking to the plans and kept on executing it. There was a lot of clarity and strength as well.
I think it's both ways. It depends on the situation. JB (Jonathan Batty) keeps on talking about it. We keep talking about our own strengths and weaknesses. I think it's more to do with sticking to your strengths and a balance of the idea.
It was just about winning today. There was nothing about the run rate but yeah, we still speak about being positive. We play according to the scorecard but sometimes we should play according to the merit of the game. Wolfy (Wolvaardt) was brilliant today. Today we saw Shafali taking singles which was so mature of her while Wolfy was attacking. That speaks about the team."
11:04 PM IST & Local Time: Time for the Post-Match Presentation!
Meg Lanning (UP Warriorz Women Captain): "Yeah, I thought we fought well till the end. Our bowlers did a really good job in order to take the match till the 19th over and put Delhi under a bit of pressure. We got a few chances but failed to hold onto them. I guess we failed to post enough runs on the board. Our batting innings didn't get going and it was always going to be difficult defending 120-odd on that wicket.
We just haven't been consistent enough. We were good in patches and have shown our backs against the opponents way too easily. So, that's probably the biggest thing for me. We need to do the right things on a consistent basis. It hasn't been the season that we wanted and disappointing to end the season with a loss tonight.
(On Shipra Giri) Yeah, I thought she did an excellent job behind the stumps. She wanted to take up the challenge of keeping up to the stumps against some quality bowlers and she did it beautifully. We were able to build some pressure that way. She had a really good evening today.
I just wanted to bowl the best bowlers for that situation. I just couldn't save my best bowlers for the backend of the innings. It was likely that we were not going to get there. There were a few 3-over spells there which was a bit unusual. All the bowlers bowled well. We were just trying to get the opposition under pressure.
(On her own future) Yeah, absolutely. I am thoroughly enjoying cricket.I love playing and I try coming into teams like this and try to get the best out of people and also for myself too. I still have that fire within myself and certainly I will be back next year and hopefully bit longer that this season to be honest."
10:47 PM IST, Local Time: Jemimah Rodrigues the skipper takes the Delhi Capitals to the playoffs with an exciting 5 wicket victory over the UP Warriorz. The first time captain fittingly scores the winning runs taking her side to number 3 in the points table into the eliminator versus Gujarat Giants.
Jemimah did everything right tonight starting with the toss. Deciding to bowl first, a brilliant team performance from the bowling attack led by Marizanne Kapp (3/30), Shree Charani (2/22) and Chinelle Henry (2/25) helped restrict UP for 122/8. Deepti Sharma top scoring with just 24.
Deandra Dottin picked up an early wicket in the chase removing Lizelle Lee for 10. Shafali Verma alongside Laura Wolvaardt then added 73 runs for the second wicket. Wolvaardt was fortunate to get 3 lives in her knock, Shafali also was dropped once.
The partnership was broken when Deepti Sharma dismissed Wolvaardt for 47 in 36 deliveries. Sophie Ecclestone taking a terrific catch in the deep. Shikha Pandey then induced a bad shot from Shafali and had her caught in the off side.
Marizanne Kapp fell for a 5-ball duck, Ecclestone claiming the big wicket. Chinelle Henry couldn't replicate her success with the ball and added just 1 run to the score. Jemimah Rodrigues looked calm despite the increasing pressure and struck 5 fours to remain unbeaten on 34 in 18 balls taking the team to the total in 18.4 overs.
Deepti picked up 2/27, Ecclestone was economic and kept the pressure rising with 1/20. Shikha Pandey was superb with 1/17 off her 4. Dottin picked up 1/30 but there were never enough runs for the Warriorz to protect. Mumbai Indians would have proceeded to the eliminator if the Warriorz defeated the Capitals but the Rodrigues led franchise prevailed with a 5-wicket victory.