Medium pacer Sophie Devine and spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad stole the spotlight as Gujarat Giants survived anxious moments to edge past Delhi Capitals by three runs.
Delhi Capitals Women held their nerve in a tense chase as captain Jemimah Rodrigues guided them to a five-wicket win , in Vadodara on Sunday, sealing an Eliminator clash with Gujarat Giants and knocking Mumbai and UP Warriorz out.
Perennial finalists Delhi Capitals take on in-form Gujarat Giants in the WPL eliminator, with a spot in the February 5 final at stake.
Delhi Capitals will have their fate in their own hands as they look for a win against UP Warriorz in the final league match of the Women's Premier League match in Vadodara
Delhi Capitals will aim to upset defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru -- the only unbeaten team in WPL 2026 with five wins in a row.
Delhi Capitals, the losing finalists of the first three seasons, have not made an ideal start under the new leadership of Jemimah Rodrigues. It is still early days but Rodrigues and Co. would be desperate to get their campaign back on track.
Mandhana, Voll guide RCB to fourth consecutive win in WPL
On a high after beating RCB, Delhi Capitals aim for strong showing against Gujarat Giants
MI have managed just two wins from five outings, while Delhi Capitals are last with three losses from four matches.
Having retained the majority of their squad, MI will be the team to beat given their formidable batting, but Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Delhi Capitals will be out to spoil their party.
The franchise chose to retain only former Under-19 World Cup winner Shweta Sehrawat as part of a fresh approach for the upcoming season.
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.
Shafali Verma was named captain of the North Zone team for the Senior Inter-Zonal T20 Trophy, starting in Nagaland, from Tuesday.
Kanika Ahuja, who plays for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Women's Premier League and also made her T20I debut for India earlier this year, is among the 15 women's players from India.
India would like to continue their flawless campaign when they take on England in the semifinal
Delhi Capitals produced a splendid bowling effort before their batters, led by Niki Prasad, survived some anxious moments to register a narrow two-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in a last-ball thriller in the Women's Premier League
Unbeaten so far in the tournament, a dominant India will start as overwhelming favourites to win their second consecutive women's Under-19 T20 World Cup crown when they take on also-undefeated South Africa in the final in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.
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.
Shafali Verma (44) and Jess Jonassen's (61 not out) fireworks underlined Delhi Capitals' complete domination as they crushed Gujarat Giants by six wickets.
Such was India's domination that only two Sri Lankan batters -- Sumudu Nisansala (21) and captain Manudi Nanayakkara (33) -- could manage double-digit scores.
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.
India's U19 women's cricket team continued their impressive run at the ICC Women's U19 World Cup, securing an eight-wicket victory over Bangladesh in a Super Six encounter.
India captain Niki Prasad described the women's Under-19 T20 World Cup title win as a 'special moment' for the team.
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.
A look at some of India's key performers in the Under-19 T20 World Cup.
All-rounder Dottin, who is currently in India with the West Indies team for the white-ball series, was the costliest among overseas players and was bought by the Giants for the second time in the auction.