Jemimah Rodrigues won her third toss in a row and, once again, pointed straight towards the dressing-room for the fielding gear. Delhi Capitals will bowl first against UP Warriorz at DY Patil, still hunting a first victory in this year’s Women’s Premier League.
The main headline before the flip of the coin was Chloe Tryon’s long-overdue appearance. After three seasons parked on the Mumbai Indians bench, the South African all-rounder has at last been handed a WPL cap, replacing Deandra Dottin for Warriorz. Meg Lanning’s side is otherwise unchanged, and remains lightly stocked for pace: only Shikha Pandey and rookie Kranti Gaud offer genuine seam, with Tryon’s left-arm spin added to a battery of slow bowlers that already includes Deepti Sharma, Sophie Ecclestone and leg-spinner Asha Sobhana. Against a right-hand heavy Capitals order, the match-ups look deliberate.
Rodrigues admitted she is leaning on the numbers rather than instinct. “The chasing sides tend to finish games here, and there’s usually a bit of dew,” she said in the host broadcaster’s flash interview, half-smiling at her luck with the coin. Lanning, still searching for her first successful call this season, kept things simple: “Runs on the board are never a bad thing; we back our bowlers.”
Former India captain and television pundit Mithali Raj wandered to pitch No. 5 – the same surface that staged last year’s ODI World Cup final – and tapped a stump for emphasis. “Batting paradise,” she observed, noting its brown tint and sparse grass cover. If she is right, totals north of 170 may be required.
Capitals have resisted changes despite two narrow defeats, including the short-of-breath finish last time out when seven runs were needed from the final over and never arrived. Sneh Rana, who leaked 32 in a single Devine assault, keeps her spot, encouraged by the coaching staff to “park it and move on”. Marizanne Kapp, Laura Wolvaardt and Shafali Verma remain the batting core, with Lizelle Lee again behind the stumps.
Tryon is pencilled in at No. 7, mirroring her job description for South Africa, and could be asked to provide the closing bursts Warriorz have lacked. Lanning has already spoken of “a couple of small moments” costing matches; a late cameo or tight two-over spell might be exactly that.
Teams
Delhi Capitals: Lizelle Lee (wk), Shafali Verma, Laura Wolvaardt, Jemimah Rodrigues (capt), Marizanne Kapp, Niki Prasad, Chinelle Henry, Sneh Rana, Minnu Mani, N Shree Charani, Nandani Sharma.
UP Warriorz: Meg Lanning (capt), Kiran Navgire, Phoebe Litchfield, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Shweta Sehrawat (wk), Chloe Tryon, Sophie Ecclestone, Asha Sobhana, Shikha Pandey, Kranti Gaud.
Both camps insist there is no panic. Still, someone leaves Navi Mumbai tonight with three defeats from three, and that is a hole even a “batting paradise” cannot easily fill.
