WPL 2026: Unchanged DC Elect To Bowl First Against UPW, Dottin Comes In

WPL 2026: Unchanged DC elect to bowl first against UPW, Dottin comes in (Image Source: IANS)

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: An unchanged Delhi Capitals have won the toss and elected to bowl first against UP Warriorz in a decisive WPL 2026 clash at the BCA Stadium in Kotambi on Sunday.

The situation is simple for DC - a win takes them to 8 points and secures the final spot in the playoffs, where Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Gujarat Giants have already entered. But if DC lose, they are likely to be knocked out because defending champions Mumbai Indians have a better net run rate.

After winning the toss, DC skipper Jemimah Rodrigues felt the pitch could play better in the second innings. “I think the team's pretty motivated. As a captain, to be honest, it's an easy job to lead this team because they're making me feel a lot at home. But I think the energy, the intensity, and the way we play our cricket is going to stay the same and there's no more negotiable for that.

“To be honest, it's always there in the back of the mind but I think we play our best cricket when we keep things really simple, stuck to what's in our control, stuck to playing the best cricket we possibly can and I know on the day our team plays the best cricket, nobody can defeat us,” she said.

Jemimah also admitted that the leadership stint at DC has aided her growth as a human being in WPL 2026. “I think over the last few weeks, I feel like I've grown a lot more than I've ever grown in the years.

“But I think firstly, credit goes to my team, to the coach JB (Jonathan Batty) and our entire support staff and the players because they've released a lot of load off me. At the same time, I think for me, every game has been such a big learning and I think that's going to help me so much more in my cricketing career here,” she said.

UPW captain Meg Lanning said they have made three changes to their playing eleven – Shipra Giri, Deandra Dottin and Charli Knott come in place of Shweta Sehrawat, Amy Jones and Chloe Tryon.

“The other night we got off to a reasonable start. We just couldn't finish it off. So there's some positives there. So hopefully we can put together the full 20 tonight. A little bit of both. Obviously, we still want to win the game.

“Everybody's very competitive and we want to get a win to finish, but we will give a couple of people opportunities tonight as well just to see what they've got, bring a bit of fresh energy to the team and hopefully it gets us the result. Fingers crossed, that's the winning combination,” she said.

Playing XIs

“Everybody's very competitive and we want to get a win to finish, but we will give a couple of people opportunities tonight as well just to see what they've got, bring a bit of fresh energy to the team and hopefully it gets us the result. Fingers crossed, that's the winning combination,” she said.

UP Warriorz: Meg Lanning (captain), Simran Shaikh, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Shipra Giri (wk), Deandra Dottin, Charli Knott, Sophie Ecclestone, Asha Sobhana Joy, Shikha Pandey, and Kranti Gaud

Article Source: IANS