And that is how things came to pass. Delhi Capitals, led by Meg Lanning, are the first finalists. They have earned a break now before Sunday. On Friday, UP Warriorz vs Mumbai Indians to determine the second finalist. That will be all for this blog.

Day Date Match Timing Venue
Fri 24-Mar-23 Eliminator UPW vs MI 7:30 PM DY Patil Stadium
Sun 26-Mar-23 Final DC vs UPW/MI 7:30 PM Brabourne - CCI

Player of the match: Alice Capsey

DC INTO THE FINAL: The first team to qualify for the final of the inaugural Women’s Premier League is led by Meg Lanning. What a surprise, eh?

Meg Lanning: Leading, winning and redefining greatness

DC 142/5 (17.5 overs): DC WIN BY 5 WICKETS AND 13 BALLS TO SPARE! Kapp wins the match with Delhi for four. And they are into the final. Meg Lanning leading the first team into the WPL final... who could have seen that coming?

DC 136/5 (17.3 overs): WICKET! Not another mix-up, DC? They seem to be doing this too often. Jonassen run out 0 (5 balls)

DC 136/4 (17 overs): Joyful over from Ecclestone but Kapp finishes with a four. Finish line is here.

DC 130/4 (16.2 overs): WICKET! Terrific. Angled in, luring the batter out, turned sharply. Stumped. Art from Ecclestone. Purple Cap safe with her. Capsey st Healy b Ecclestone 34 (31 balls)

9 needed off 24 balls. Ecclestone.

Timeout because why not.

DC 130/3 (16 overs): With the match meandering towards the finish line, Kapp hits a big six over midwicket. And as he has done through the tournament, Harsha Bhogle reminds the league that the boundaries need to be pushed back.

DC 117/3 (15 overs): Anjali with a tidy over too. Thanks to Lanning’s start and Capsey’s fireworks earlier too, all par for the course for DC.

DC 114/3 (14 overs): Terrific over from Ecclestone, too bad it doesn’t really do much for this innings. DC don’t have to hit a shot in anger against her.

DC 112/3 (13 overs): Kapp’s largely been quiet but she plays one of the shots of the night, hitting Yashasri through midwicket for a four.

DC cruising here.

DC 105/3 (12 overs): Deepti pulls off her old trick of stopping in her action, and Capsey smacks the next ball for four through square leg. There was some anger there.

DC 97/3 (11 overs): What an over by Ismail. Just sheer heat! To Kapp no less. The last ball is hit for a four after Kapp copped a couple.

DC 92/3 (10 overs): Capsey, capsey! What a player. Dances down the track and smacks one high over long on. Chopra’s over was solid otherwise, that one shot by the English batter made it a big one.

Timeout.

DC 84/3 (9 overs): Capsey takes on Ecclestone! One four was avoidable, misfielded by Ismail. The over finishes with a lovely reverse sweep, one ball after she was beaten by a similar delivery.

DC 72/3 (8 overs): Just one run from Parshavi, what an over.

DC 70/3 (6.5 overs): WICKET! After losing a review for LBW off a change-of-pace delivery, Ismail fires in a bouncer and gets the big wicket. Terrific battle this has been over the two matches. Lanning had the upper hand till then, but Ismail gets the wicket she deserved. Lanning c Shaikh b Ismail 39 (23 balls)

DC 67/2 (6.1 overs): WICKET! What a way to come back after an expensive first over. Rodrigues is beaten for pace there. But replays show she might have edged it, even though she didn’t think so. IF she reviewed, she’d have been safe. Rodrigues lbw b Ismail 3 (3 balls)

DC 67/1 (6 overs): What a terrific powerplay for DC. Lanning with a stunning hit over extra cover for six off Deepti’s bowling, all class that. She is on fire!

Jemimah gets a mini promotion, to No 3.

DC 56/1 (4.5 overs): WICKET! Two fours to start that over, but Shafali wants more and is caught brilliantly by Ecclestone at long on. Good moment for the youngster. Verma c Ecclestone b Yashasri 21 (16 balls)

DC 46/0 (4 overs): Incredible how often she plays this and incredible how often fielders are not ready for it. Really should have been stopped at point but a trademark four for the DC captain. A four for Shafali earlier in the Anjali over too.

DC 34/0 (3 overs): A nod of the head from Lanning to Shafali after a forward-defensive shot against Ecclestone. But the opener slogs one next ball, but effectively for a four.

Ecclestone in early again.

DC 28/0 (2 overs): Tries to hit the short-of-length area repeatedly in that over, does young Yashasri. A four early from Shafali, a no ball and a wide thrown in there too but all in all, a decent first over.

DC 20/0 (1 over): What an over! A four for Lanning, that is off a no ball. The free hit goes for four too. And then end of the over, a huge six as Ismail bowls a full toss.

Ismail vs Lanning again, should be good.

UPW 138/6 (20 overs): BIG OVER! McGrath finishes with 4-6-2-4 as the decision to go to Capsey for the last over doesn’t pay off. That dropped catch too, how costly? 19 runs from that over.

UPW 119/6 (19 overs): Four and six for T-Mac off Jonassen. Brilliant from the Aussie star, on a pitch where everyone has struggled. She has had her chances but this is terrific.

UPW 104/5 (17.4 overs): WICKET! Another stumping and this is a big one. What an over from Capsey. Wide delivery, but slow turn does Ecclestone in. Terrific work by Taniya. Ecclestone st T Bhatia b Alice Capsey 0 (2 balls)

UPW 104/5 (17.1 overs):WICKET! Deepti’s batting continues to disappoint. Sharma st T Bhatia b Capsey 3 (8 balls)

UPW 104/4 (17 overs): DROPPED! Capsey puts down a chance at long on, and this is McGrath who is starting to tee off. Two fours earlier, and one of those misfields. DC have been ordinary on the field today, something we haven’t come to expect from them.

UPW 94/4 (16 overs): This is more poor batting. Deepti Sharma plays out five dot balls in Capsey’s over and gives McGrath just one ball to face in the 16th over.

This was another fine piece of fielding.

UPW 91/4 (14.5 overs): WICKET! Another chance wasted by Navgire. Goes for a big hoick but the spin completely deceives her, Taniya makes no mistake. McGrath survived an appeal for FBW (forearm before wicket) as the ball was bouncing over. Navgire st T Bhatia b Jonassen 2 (3 balls)

UPW 88/3 (14 overs): Now some momentum for UPW and guess what, the world No 1 batter is in the middle. Coincidence? Three fours for Tahlia McGrath in that Reddy over.

UPW 74/3 (13 overs): Navgire is the new batter and McGrath is left frustrated in that over because of confusion in running. Nearly a massive mix-up. This innings is right now going nowhere.

UPW 71/3 (12 overs): WICKET! A forgettable outing in the middle, but perhaps one she can learn from. Simran Shaikh’s struggle is over. Shaikh c Rodrigues b R Yadav 11 (23 balls)

UPW 69/2 (11 overs): Maybe that will help Shaikh get going. A four past mid-off off Kapp’s bowling.

UPW 63/2 (10 overs): WICKET! FOUR AND OUT! A great line on air from Harsha Bhogle. Healy was driving with the handbrake on, it felt like. Four dot balls (one dropped catch) is followed by a four but Capsey beats the batter with a wider one. The captain is gone. Healy st Bhatia b Capsey 36 (35 balls)

Capsey into the attack.

UPW 59/1 (9 overs): Despite a boundary for Healy, a tidy enough over by Pandey.

Shikha Pandey back into the attack. Will Healy tee off?

Suggestions on Twitter that it was a tactical drop by Lanning to keep T-Mac away from batting. Who knows, the mad genius Meg is capable of anything! Timeout.

UPW 53/1 (8 overs): A six for Healy but still only 8 runs off Radha’s over. The innings remains in third gear for UPW. Simran needs to get a move on at least, we know Healy can go big even if she is striking just over 100 at the moment.

UPW 44/1 (7 overs): Looks like Lanning also wants to give chances to the UPW youngsters like Healy. She drops an absolute sitter at cover as Simran drives one in the air. Tidy over by Reddy.

UPW 38/1 (6 overs): That is a bit disappointing from Simran Shaikh. Sure, you don’t have to go all out against a bowler like Jonassen but last over of the powerplay and she has just played out five dot balls. Least to do would have been to get off strike.

UPW 37/1 (5 overs): Started with a wicket, but not really the most controlled of overs by Radha. Radar off.

Another change from UPW, Simran in at No 3.

UPW 30/1 (4.1 overs): WICKET! Trying to take on Radha right away, but the turn does her in. Sehrawat’s brief but entertaining cameo comes to an end. Sehrawat c Jonassen b Yadav 19 (12 balls)

UPW 30/0 (4 overs): Another four for the youngster, who is off to a fine start here. Good sweep off Jonassen.

UPW 25/0 (3 overs): Lovely shot again by Shweta by four off Kapp. Healy is keen on giving the strike to the youngster evidently.

UPW 17/0 (2 overs): Oh, interesting duel. Pandey’s inswingers should not make square cutting or driving easy for a RHB but two fours for Shweta with that. Gutsy. Nearly caught and bowled last ball though, but hit powerfully enough.

UPW 7/0 (1 over): Kapp offers width to Healy and the first ball goes for four. Misfield off the last ball results in a three. Four dot balls in between.

Shweta Sehrawat will open the batting once again with Healy. Can she click today? No pressure scenario.

UPW XI: Alyssa Healy (C/WK), Shweta Sehrawat, Tahlia McGrath, Deepti Sharma, Simran Shaikh, Kiran Navgire, Parshavi Chopra, Sophie Ecclestone, Anjali Sarvani, S Yashasri, Shabnim Ismail

DC XI: Meg Lanning (C), Shafali Verma, Alice Capsey, Jemimah Rodrigues, Marizanne Kapp, Jess Jonassen, Taniyaa Bhatia (WK), Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Poonam Yadav.

Team news: Three changes for UPW. Grace Harris, rested confirms Healy, as she has been doing a lot of the heavylifting. Devika Vaidya, Rajeshwari Gayakwad also left out. Shweta Sehrawat and young pacer Yashashri come in. Shabnim Ismail, back too of course. DC unchanged.

TOSS: Meg Lanning wins the toss and opts to bowl first.

6:58 pm: Hello and welcome to the live coverage of Match No 20 between UP Warriorz and Delhi Capitals in the second double header of the day.

The top three have been confirmed and this is the final match in the group stage with the Australian captain Meg Lanning and vice-captain Alyssa Healy coming face-to-face. What’s at stake here is that if Lanning’s Delhi Capitals win (by a decent enough margin), they will ensure a top-of-the-table finish and a direct qualification into the final.

UPW, already through to the playoffs, have nothing else to play for other than preparing for the Eliminator.

The last time the two franchises met:

WPL 2023 Delhi Capitals v UP Warriorz blog: McGrath’s knock in vain as Lanning and Co win by 42 runs

TOSS: Alyssa Healy opts to bowl

First innings: DC 211/4 after 20 overs

Second innings: UPW 169/5 after 20 overs

Photos / screenshots in the blog courtesy: Sportzpics / wplt20.com and JioCinema