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.
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.
Harleen Deol bounced back from the disappointment of being retired out with a match-winning half-century twenty-four hours later as UP Warriorz downed defending champions Mumbai Indians by seven wickets for their first victory of WPL 2026, in Navi Mumbai, on Thursday.
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
UP Warriorz will lean heavily on new captain Meg Lanning as they seek to bounce back after finishing bottom of the standings last season.
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.
Devine stars as Gujarat Giants beat UP Warriorz by 45 runs
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.
In a night that will be etched in Indian cricket history, Rohit Sharma fought back tears as the women in blue conquered the world in front of a packed Navi Mumbai crowd on Sunday.
Seventeen-year-old wicketkeeper-batter Karabo Meso on Wednesday earned her maiden call-up to South Africa's 15-member squad for the women's ODI World Cup starting later this month in India and Sri Lanka.
Leg-spinner Alana King's spellbinding wizardry formed the cornerstone of Australia's seven-wicket triumph over South Africa as the defending champions concluded the Women's World Cup league stage firmly on top of the table in Indore 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.
Despite this, Bangladesh's inconsistent top order remains a significant concern. Skipper Nigar Sultana Joty, who also performs wicketkeeping duties, has struggled for runs, averaging just nine in the tournament.
Earlier, after incessant rain interrupted the exciting contest, South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt won the toss and opted to field against the hosts India.
South Africa will be eager to turn consistent recent form into a title-winning run when they open their women's ODI World Cup campaign against traditional powerhouses England in Guwahati on Friday.
For India, the battle is no longer about proving skill or form, but about crossing the elusive final hurdle that has so often tripped them -- including in this very tournament.
India won their maiden Women's World Cup title with a 52-run victory over South Africa at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Sunday.
Shafali Verma scripted a new record to her name as the opener blasted the highest score by an Indian batter in the Women's World Cup final.
On paper, Pakistan are no match for South Africa even though Fatima Sana's team did win an ODI in the bilateral series that served as a dress rehearsal for the World Cup.
Nadine de Klerk demonstrated icy-cool demeanour under pressure and shepherded South Africa to a three-wicket win over Bangladesh in a thrilling Women's World Cup match, in Visakhapatnam.
South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt scored a hundred for the ages before the seasoned Marizanne Kapp made the ball talk in good batting conditions to script a 125-run victory over England and enter their maiden Women's ODI Cup final, in Guwahati, on Wednesday.
As India chase history at home in Navi Mumbai, while Laura Wolvaardt's South Africa will look to script their own fairytale, by finally breaking their run of heartbreaks at ICC events.
Spinners call shots as England start Women's WC campaign with 10-wicket drubbing of SA
Off-spinner Deepti bowled the 48th over, and De Klerk managed to find two boundaries off her before applying finishing touches to the chase, smashing pacer Amanjot Kaur for two sixes in the 49th over.
In the league stage, South Africa suffered two heavy defeats and their batting came apart against spin in both games.
India have a mounting worry in the lack of runs so far from talismanic Smriti Mandhana, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and the energetic Jemimah Rodrigues.
Deepti jumps two places to 5th, Mandhana continues to hold top spot in ODI rankings
Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma guided India to a historic 52-run victory over South Africa which saw the ICC Women's World Cup 2025 hosts lift the trophy for the first time.
Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma's superb all-round showing powered India to a historic first-ever Women's ODI World Cup title after they outclassed South Africa by 52 runs in the final.
India defeated South Africa by 23 runs in a women's Tri-Nation ODI series match, setting up a title clash with Sri Lanka.
If the men of 1983 gave India a reason to dream, the women of 2025 could give it something rarer -- the courage to live that dream in full daylight, under an open sky that finally belongs to them, points out Prem Panicker.
Cricket Australia informed in a release that middle-order batter Rodrigues, a 'fan favourite' in Brisbane, was retained by the Brisbane Heat
The Harmanpreet Kaur-led India will be playing an ODI World Cup final for the third time, having finished runners-up in 2005 and 2017 to Australia and England, respectively. This will be South Africa's maiden appearance in the final.
Stylish opener Smriti Mandhana inched closer to reclaiming the world number one spot in the ICC Women's ODI batting rankings
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.
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.
Mumbai Indians suffered a two-wicket defeat against Delhi Capitals in their opening match, which was marred by a few controversial run-out decisions.
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