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 India pacer Pooja Vastrakar, who was grappling with an unspecified injury, was ruled out of the competition and has been replaced by slow left-arm orthodox bowler Parunika Sisodia, who was one of the main performers in India's title-winning campaign in the U-19 Women's T20 World Cup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.
American Ryan Crouser became the first man to "three-peat" in the Olympic shot put on Saturday.
RR could not have asked for a better start to the season, registering four consecutive wins from as many games.
Sukanya Verma celebrates the icon and his imagery in 23 super special Aamir Khan frames etched in her head.
England secured a 26-run victory over India in the third T20I in Rajkot on Tuesday to stay alive in the five-match series.
India took control of the match very early and converted their dominance into a goal in the seventh minute through Deepika who deftly converted a penalty corner with a neat flick to give her team the lead.
The balance was so perfect in that moment, the irony so rich. Those who cheered on Elia Kazan were cheering on the one quality that made him such a singular artist: He was his own man and not susceptible to groupthink. Those who protested Kazan's presence were protesting that very quality: They were saying that he was too much of an outlier, a wolf in a radical's clothing. Sreehari Nair captures his Kodak moment at the Oscars.
Dabba Cartel's reluctant black comedy in the body of a crime thriller starts out interestingly enough to accomplish its Narcos: Thane aspirations, notes Sukanya Verma.
IMAGES from the Champions Trophy Group A match played between India and Bangladesh at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, in Dubai on Thursday.
Intuitively solving a problem like multiplying 43 by 11, they might first multiply 43 by 10, and then add 43, reaching the final answer of 473.
Forest were good value for the win, though Ipswich came close to opening the scoring midway through the first half.
12-year-old junior player Oliver Whitehouse bagged a 'double hat-trick' in an astonishing over for his club.
Araijeet Singh Hundal slammed four goals as defending champions India defeated arch-rivals Pakistan 5-3 in the summit clash to win a hat-trick of titles in the men's junior Asia Cup in Muscat on Wednesday.
Bayer Leverkusen beat Freiburg 3-2 to edge closer to a first ever Bundesliga title.
Leftover rice is the versatile ingredient that can be used to make quick and easy idiyappam.
IMAGES from the Premier League matches played on Saturday.
At 40 years and 126 days, Sunil Chhetri became the oldest hat-trick scorer in the ISL history
In today's rapidly evolving digital payment landscape, security concerns remain a top priority for stakeholders across sectors.
The Storyteller has a lot to like and admire about it, observes Mayur Sanap.
A summary of Saturday's action in the FA Cup third round.
A look at some of India's key performers in the Under-19 T20 World Cup.
Pakistan were always struggling to keep up the required run rate despite captain Mohamed Rizwan batting through to the last over before being dismissed for 74.
An Indian woman who was living in Pakistan for the last 22 years after being fraudulently brought here by a travel agent returned to her homeland via the Wagah Border on Monday, an official said.
Rising sprinter Animesh Kujur and star hurdler Jyothi Yarraji picked up their third and second gold medals respectively at the National Games.
Hailing the Bharatiya Janata Party's Delhi assembly polls victory as 'historic', Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a stinging attack on the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress, saying the country needs a serious political transformation and not politics of 'dhoort-ta (deceit) and moorkhta (foolishness)'.
From bhikshus of Ashokan 3rd century BC and medieval Sufis to Oxfam, Omidyar and Soros now, non-State actors have any real power only when they work in conjunction with a real State, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Liverpool booked their berth in the League Cup semi-finals with a 2-1 victory over Southampton
These six male megastars have formed popular pairs with two starkly different leading ladies. Dinesh Raheja compares and contrasts the chemistry between the onscreen couples, and asks you, dear reader, to vote for your favourite jodi.
South African legend AB de Villiers has mooted the idea of a women's SA20 league, as the success of the men's version across the three editions has given them a "model and recipe" to follow.
Having a left-arm quick of Singh's calibre gives the bowling attack the much-needed heft and variety. It's like having another bow in Team India's quiver, notes Vishal Menon.
Forest's tally is the same number as Leicester City had accumulated by the same point of the 2015/16 campaign when they went on to become shock Premier League champions.
Rishabh Pant has been nominated for the prestigious Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award.
A summary of Saturday's action in the Premier League.
The left arm pacer had dismissed Virat Kohli with a snorter on day two. With the pitch playing tricks, he felt he got lucky.
Women's HIL: Odisha Warriors beat Soorma Hockey Club in shootout
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday clinched a stunning hat-trick win in Haryana overcoming anti-incumbency and dashing Congress' hopes of a comeback while the National Conference-Congress combine pulled off a spectacular victory in maiden elections in Jammu and Kashmir after abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
Peter Handscomb admitted that the Nagpur track 'tricked' the visiting side
Let's decode Sanjana Ganesan's love for everything chic.
Amad Diallo struck a late equaliser as Manchester United made a mockery of their recent form to hold Premier League leaders Liverpool
R Praggnanandhaa outclassed world champion D Gukesh in sudden death to win Tata Steel Masters chess title.
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