Delhi Capitals appointed India's star batter Jemimah Rodrigues as their captain for Women's Premier League 2026.
Accepting the flaws in her game was fundamental to her resurgence as a more compact batter, India opener Shafali Verma said.
The seasoned duo of Meg Lanning and Sophie Devine were also among the marquee picks. Giants bought Devine for Rs 2 crore, while UP Warriorz landed Lanning for Rs 1.90 crore.
Leading international cricketers, including Laura Wolvaardt and India's World Cup hero Deepti Sharma, will go under the hammer at the Women's Premier League auction in Delhi on Thursday, with bidding wars also expected for homegrown Kranti Gaud and Shree Charani.
'A total of 19 players have registered in the highest base-price bracket of Rs.50 lakh, 11 players in the Rs. 40 lakh bracket, and 88 players in the Rs.30 lakh bracket.'
He said one of the things the team lacked last season or in the last cycle was some explosiveness at the bottom order.
WPL 2026 auction to be held on November 27 in New Delhi
Harmanpreet, Mandhana, Rodrigues among players retained for WPL 2026: Report
The World Cup winners' medal is the latest addition to Verma's trophy cabinet, which also includes the 2023 Under-19 World Cup, the 2022 Asia Cup, the 2022 Asian Games gold medal and the 2022 Commonwealth Games silver.
'Funny enough, I'm not one for records, but when you mention Meg Lanning, I'm glad I'm above that one. As long as we are winning the games, then I'm all good.'
The franchise chose to retain only former Under-19 World Cup winner Shweta Sehrawat as part of a fresh approach for the upcoming season.
Former skipper Meg Lanning feels Australia's "incredible depth" which has been in full display throughout the tournament gives the seven-time champions an edge over India.
Despite making history, the 29-year-old's form at the ongoing showpiece event on home turf is turning out to be a cause of concern for India. In three appearances, Mandhana has managed just 54 runs at an underwhelming average of 18.00.
India cricketers focused on fielding, an area that needs major improvement, in their first training session ahead of the Women's World Cup beginning at home on September 30.
India overpowered New Zealand by 53 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis method to seal their place in the semi-finals of the Women's ODI World Cup.
Smriti Mandhana smashed history in the third ODI against Australia, blasting a record-breaking 50-ball century - the fastest by an Indian and the second fastest in women's ODI cricket ever.
On Sunday, Goud repaid the faith shown in her with a telling spell of 3 for 20, that included three maidens, to derail Pakistan's chase of 247.
The clash was a record-breaking one. Right from individual pieces of glory to team milestones, India opener Smriti Mandhana's records to Australia once again re-writing history books to justify the seven titles in their trophy cabinet, this match had it all.
India, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, are coming into the showpiece event on the back of a hard-fought ODI series loss to Australia, where opener Smriti Mandhana slammed two back-to-back centuries and the spinners, led by Deepti Sharma, giving a good account of themselves.
The 13th edition of the global showpiece event, beginning on September 30, is being jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka.
Indian refiners are likely to import 2-2.2 million barrels per day of Russian crude oil in June - the highest in the last two years and more than the total volumes bought from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, preliminary data by global trade analytics firm Kpler showed.
The 31-year-old also led Australia to a Commonwealth Games gold medal last year and is the country's leading run getter across formats
US strikes on Iran's three main nuclear facilities have once again raised concerns that Tehran might shut down the Strait of Hormuz - one of the world's most critical chokepoints, through which a fifth of global oil and gas supply flows.
Delhi Capitals dished out an all-round effort to comfortably beat former champions Mumbai Indians by nine wickets
Mumbai Indians head coach Charlotte Edwards said the early wickets of Delhi Capitals skipper Meg Lanning and opener Shafali Verma helped her team win the Women's Premier League final in Mumbai on Saturday.
Harmanpreet Kaur's quickfire fifty and Nat Sciver-Brunt's fine all-round showing lifted Mumbai Indians to their second Women's Premier League title.
Delhi Capitals vice-captain Jemimah Rodrigues believes the long break between the last league match and the Women's Premier League final has revitalized the team and will work to their advantage in the title clash. The Capitals have qualified for their third straight WPL final after Mumbai Indians were defeated by Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the last league match at Mumbai on March 11.
Following their 60-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Capitals skipper Meg Lanning lauded Shafali Verma and Tara Norris' stellar performances in their WPL opener.
Delhi Capitals will be aiming to claim the top spot, while UP Warriorz will be desperate to register their first victory of the season when the two sides face off in the Women's Premier League in Bengaluru on Saturday.
Needing 16 off two overs, Kashvee Gautam struck Shikha Pandey for a six off the last ball to bring down the equation to seven runs in the last over.
Gujarat Giants, on the other hand, have been heavily reliant on Australian all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner, who has been their standout performer.
Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru will be determined to give their home fans a parting victory when they take on a fatigued Delhi Capitals in Bengaluru on Saturday, before the Women's Premier League moves to Lucknow for its third leg.
Powered by the all-round brilliance of Nat Sciver-Brunt and Hayley Matthews, Mumbai Indians head into the Women's Premier League final as favorites to claim their second title, while Delhi Capitals hope to break their title jinx in what promises to be a thrilling showdown in Mumbai on Saturday.
'We have got lots of energy within the group and as I said before we are really excited about the opportunity that we have given ourselves to go out there and play our best game.'
An ecstatic Mumbai Indians skipper Harmanpreet Kaur credited her bowlers for robustly defending a modest target of 150 in the WPL 2025 final against Delhi Capitals.
Ahead of the inaugural season of the Women's Premier League, Delhi Capitals named Meg Lanning as skipper and Jemimah Rodrigues as vice-captain.
Meg Lanning was awestruck seeing Shafali Verma's powerhitting
The inaugural edition's winner Mumbai Indians will bank on their core group of players while two-time finalists Delhi Capitals will expect fireworks from Shafali Verma when they face-off in the second game of the Women's Premier League here on Saturday. The finalists of the first WPL in 2023, both Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals made it to the knockouts in the second edition last year but lost to the eventual champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the eliminator and the final respectively. Those defeats were certainly not reflective of how well MI and DC had fared until the knockouts stage, with Harmanpreet Kaur's side finishing second in the points table with five wins in eight matches and Meg Lanning's team topping it with six wins in as many outings. The winners of WPL 2023, Mumbai Indians tend to lean on their core group of players both overseas and Indian and a similar approach can be expected this year, with only a few changes taking place in terms of squad composition. India pacer Pooja Vastrakar, who was grappling with an unspecified injury, was ruled out of the competition and has been replaced by slow left-arm orthodox bowler Parunika Sisodia, who was one of the main performers in India's title-winning campaign in the U-19 Women's T20 World Cup recently. Mumbai Indians have let go of England's Issy Wong, who took the first-ever WPL hat-trick in 2023, after the player lost form and the franchise found the leader of their attack in South Africa's Shabnim Ismail. Among domestic talents, another member of the U-19 T20 World Cup winning squad G Kamalini would be one to watch out for, having finished as the third highest scorer in the competition with 143 runs in seven matches. Apart from a strong leader in Harmanpreet, MI have strong figures from other international sides such as Nat Sciver-Brunt (England), Hayley Matthews (West Indies), Amelia Kerr (New Zealand), as well as South Africans Nadine de Klerk, Shabnim Ismail and Chloe Tryon. While Yastika Bhatia is MI's No 1 wicketkeeper-batter, other Indian players in Saika Ishaque, Sajana Sajeevan, uncapped Akshita Maheshwari and Amanjot Kaur will be expected to play their roles to perfection. On their part, Delhi Capitals will be keen to do one better after finishing as runner-up for two times in a row ever since the competition began. One of the most consistent teams in the competition, the Lanning-led Delhi have strong talent base across departments but the key will be to deliver in crucial matches. All eyes will be on the explosive Indian batter Shafali who has responded to her exclusion from the Indian side with runs in domestic cricket. She forms a lethal opening pair with Lanning at the top, while the likes of Australia's Annabel Sutherland, England's Alice Capsey and India's Jemimah Rodrigues form the core of their middle order. All-rounder Sutherland will hope to draw inspiration from her recent success of having struck 163 in the only Test of the women's Ashes followed by winning the highest individual honour in Australian cricket. While Delhi boasts of three wicketkeeper-batters in India's Taniyaa Bhatia, Nandini Kashyap and Scotland's Sarah Bryce, their bowling looks settled with Marizanne Kapp as the leader of the attack, backed by Australia's Jess Jonassen, India's Radha Yadav and Shikha Pandey as well as Titas Sadhu.
Shafali Verma and Jess Jonassen smashed half-centuries as Delhi Capitals handed Royal Challengers Bengaluru a fourth consecutive defeat with a commanding nine-wicket win.
West Indies' Chinelle Henry smashed a 23-ball 62, including eight sixes and two fours, to equal the record for the fastest fifty in the Women's Premier League.
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