Jemimah Rodrigues will lead Delhi Capitals in the fourth Women’s Premier League season, stepping into the space left by Meg Lanning, who has not been retained. The 25-year-old Mumbai batter has been with Capitals since the first auction in 2023 and was vice-captain last term, so the promotion always felt likely once Lanning’s name disappeared from the retained list.
Delhi held on to five players ahead of the December auction – Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Marizanne Kapp, Annabel Sutherland and uncapped quick Niki Prasad – and management hinted at the plan weeks ago. Co-owner Parth Jindal told reporters: “I think we are very clear that we would like to have an Indian as the captain. We already have our minds made up, but let’s see what happens. Laura will add a lot of leadership into the dressing room, but we are clear that we want to go with an Indian captain.”
Rodrigues’ WPL numbers are steady rather than spectacular: 507 runs in 27 matches, an average a shade over 28, highest score 69. Lanning (952) and Verma (865) still sit comfortably ahead on the Capitals’ run charts, yet coaches have valued Rodrigues’ calm finishing in choppy chases – most of her best work has arrived in the closing overs rather than in headline-grabbing fifties.
Her international year has been harder to ignore. In 2025 she logged 771 ODI runs, 177 in T20Is and, crucially, that unbeaten 127 in the World Cup semi-final against Australia that tilted the tournament India’s way. A week later India beat South Africa to lift the trophy, ending a search that has stretched across generations. Those runs under pressure helped nudge Delhi’s brains trust towards the obvious choice.
Capitals, perennial nearly-team of the WPL, have topped the league table in all three previous campaigns yet still await a first title. Rodrigues will get her first crack at ending that run on 10 January, when they open against the defending champions Mumbai Indians. Lanning’s departure leaves a strategic hole as well as a leadership one, but Delhi believe a largely settled core – plus South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt picked up at auction – gives them enough ballast.
Fans will notice only one immediate change: a local voice at the toss. Everything else, Capitals hope, remains reassuringly familiar.
