The second ball of the opening over stunned Healy as Shikha bowled a ball that moved quite a distance after pitching outside off and then swung in considerably to hit the top of middle stump.
The Australia series exposed India's frailties in the bowling department and the team has a lot of work to do before the ICC event.
Former champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru hammered UP Warriorz by eight wickets to enter the WPL final and virtually knock the opposition out of the playoff race, in Vadodara, on Thursday.
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.
UP Warriorz will lean heavily on new captain Meg Lanning as they seek to bounce back after finishing bottom of the standings last season.
UP Warriorz will start with a clear edge when they take on a struggling Gujarat Giants in Vadodara on Thursday, as the race for the remaining two playoff spots in the Women's Premier League heats up.
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.
Table-toppers Royal Challengers Bengaluru will look to make amends with the bat after two consecutive defeats and lock their berth in the final when they take on a depleted UP Warriorz in the Women's Premier League in Vadodara
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
Royal Challengers Bengaluru will look to build on those gains when they take on a star-studded UP Warriorz in the WPL in Navi Mumbai on Monday.
UP Warriorz beat Mumbai Indians by 22 runs in WPL
Winless in the first three outings, the Warriorz opened their account on Thursday, beating defending champions Mumbai Indians by seven wickets, and they are set to face each other for the second time in three days.
Devine stars as Gujarat Giants beat UP Warriorz by 45 runs
Australian batter Phoebe Litchfield's commanding knock of 78 off just 40 balls went in vain as Gujarat Giants beat UP Warriorz by 10 runs in a high-scoring Women's Premier League match, Navi Mumbai, on Saturday.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
Shafali Verma (44) and Jess Jonassen's (61 not out) fireworks underlined Delhi Capitals' complete domination as they crushed Gujarat Giants by six wickets.
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.
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.
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.
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.
'I try to take it one day at a time. Short term goals help me a lot. There is always pressure to perform and I am hoping I am better equipped this time around.'
Gujarat Giants, on the other hand, have been heavily reliant on Australian all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner, who has been their standout performer.
Special Ops 2 captures the spirit of the modern-day spy thriller and runs with it, observes Deepa Gahlot.
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
Taking a dig at the controversial run-out decisions that played a big role in her team's last-ball, two-wicket defeat to Delhi Capitals, Mumbai Indians coach Charlotte Edwards said it was "really hard" to comprehend such calls that affect the eventual outcome of the match.
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.
Smriti Mandhana smashed a blistering 47-ball 81 to power reigning champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a resounding eight-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals
The likes of Monica Patel, C Prathyusha have been dropped from the squad altogether.
Smriti Mandhana, Ellyse Perry, Shafali Verma, Meg Lanning and Harmanpreet Kaur were some of the big names retained by their respective franchises for the next edition of the Women's Premier League.
A player in A category gets paid Rs 50 lakh over and above match fees and Rs 30 lakh and Rs 10 lakh are allotted for B and C category respectively.
Lanning has led DC from the front, scoring 308 runs from eight innings, while South African all-rounder Marizanne Kapp and Australian left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen are the highest wicket-takers for the side with 11 scalps each.
IMAGES from the Women's Premier League match played between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals in Navi Mumbai on Monday.
IMAGES from the WPL match between Delhi Capitals and UP Warriorz in New Delhi on Friday
Star batter Jemimah Rodrigues was on Thursday dropped from the 15-member Indian women's squad for the ICC ODI World Cup to be held in New Zealand from March 4 to April 3.
Harleen Deol took a sensational catch at long-off, which is being hailed by many as one of the best catches ever seen in cricket, in the first India-England T20 International in Northampton.
Veteran pacer Shikha Pandey axed, rookie keeper Shwetha gets maiden call-up.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances