With three matches in the league stage pending in the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League, the identities of the top three teams were confirmed on Monday when UP Warriorz defeated Gujarat Giants in a thriller at the Brabourne Stadium.
The Warriorz, led by Alyssa Healy, joined Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals in the playoffs. With that result, Gujarat Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore are the two teams to miss out of the second stage of the competition.
Mumbai Indians became the first team to clinch the playoff spot as they started the season with five wins in a row. Delhi Capitals soon followed suit as their total of 8 points put them out of reach for the bottom two.
UP Warriorz, who had a start-stop campaign early on, have hit their stride since and with back-to-back wins, have reached the top three.
RCB, who started the season poorly with five defeats on the trot, gave themselves a glimmer of a hope with a huge win against Gujarat Giants that boosted their Net Run Rate too but they were expecting too many things to go their way after that disastrous start. Which ultimately did not. They will finish their campaign on Tuesday with a dead rubber against Mumbai Indians.
But there is still quite a bit left to decide on the final day of league action. With MI taking on RCB, followed by DC’s match against UPW, the direct spot for the final is still up for grabs.
While MI let go of that chance on Monday, their margin of defeat was so big that it swung their NRR below DC’s who are now favourites to finish top and directly book their place in the title clash.
If MI win in the afternoon match, then DC will know the exact margin they need to overcome their NRR to clinch top spot.
UPW can also reach 10 points and if MI lose against RCB. In that case, there will be a three-way tie on NRR.
Corrections: Tuesday’s fixtures are RCB vs MI followed by UPW vs DC.