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What to expect: Warriorz searching for first win

UP Warriorz are yet to find their feet and will hope a change of venue brings a change in fortune, heading into the first reverse fixture of this season. They are also the only team without a win in WPL 2025. Under new captain Deepti Sharma, they haven't been able to lock their XIs or their batting line-up. While there has been some individual flashes of brilliance - such as Kiran Navgire's blazing fifty, Chinelle Henry's death-over hitting and Sophie Ecclestone's economical spells - Warriorz have not fired as a unit. They do not have a strike bowler (Saima Thakor was dropped after one game). Misfields and dropped catches have also hurt. The likes of Grace Harris and Tahlia McGrath have also not fired in the middle order.

On the other hand, Capitals have won two out of three matches and seem like a settled unit with most boxes ticked. Their middle order consisting of Annabel Sutherland and Marizanne Kapp has stepped up, their captain Meg Lanning has found her rhythm with a fifty against Warriorz in the last game and their pace attack has collectively taken 11 wickets in three matches.

Team news and likely XIs

Capitals are unlikely to change their winning combination which means they might still prefer Niki Prasad's lower-order batting over Radha Yadav's left-arm spin.

Delhi Capitals: 1 Meg Lanning (capt), 2 Shafali Verma, 3 Jemimah Rodrigues, 4 Annabel Sutherland, 5 Marizanne Kapp, 6 Jess Jonassen, 7 Sarah Bryce (wk), 8 Niki Prasad, 9 Shikha Pandey, 10 Arundhati Reddy, 11 Minnu Mani

Tahlia McGrath has had scores of 0 and 1 in the two matches and had an average outing with the ball too, picking up one wicket for 47 runs in 6.5 overs. Warriorz might bring in allrounder Chamari Athapaththu for the Bengaluru leg before she joins the Sri Lanka squad on a white-ball tour of New Zealand to bolster their batting.

UP Warriorz (likely): 1 Kiran Navgire, 2 Chamari Athapaththu, 3 Vrinda Dinesh, 4 Uma Chetry (wk), 5 Deepti Sharma (capt), 6 Tahlia McGrath/Grace Harris, 7 Shweta Sehrawat, 8 Chinelle Henry, 9 Sophie Ecclestone, 10 Rajeshwari Gayakwad, 11 Kranti Goud

Players to watch: Shafali Verma and Sophie Ecclestone

Shafali Verma smashed two half-centuries in four attempts at an impressive strike rate of 140.6 in the Bengaluru leg of WPL last year. Having hit 43, 0, 26 so far this edition, Shafali might be keen on converting her starts and making a big score at the venue again.

Sophie Ecclestone has accounted for three of the seven wickets taken by Warriorz so far and has looked most threatening in the bowling attack. She has an economy of 5.87, and her spell in the powerplay will be crucial for Warriorz to make early inroads. Against Gujarat Giants, she had figures of 2-0-6-1 in the powerplay, but she was given only one over against Capitals where she leaked eight runs.

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