Women's T20 League

Match 14: DEL-W vs GUJ-W

Preview

The Women’s IND T20 League's 14th match is set to begin on Thursday at 07:30 PM IST, 16th March 2023. This match is scheduled to take place at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai. Meg Lanning-led DEL-W is perfectly placed to make it to the playoffs of the tournament if Delhi wins today's match against GUJ-W. The second-placed DEL-W has 8 points from 5 matches and a net run rate of +1.887.

Delhi would be optimistic about their chances with 3 games remaining as they are just behind MUM-W in the points table who sits on the top with 5 out of 5 wins. DEL-W will face unbalanced GUJ-W in its next fixture, Sneh Rana-led Gujarat, who is struggling in 4th place with just 2 points and a net run rate of -3.207. One side is heading for this match with a win another with a defeat.

Lanning's side has registered two comfortable wins in their previous two games – by 10 wickets against GUJ-W and by 6 wickets against BLR-W. Skipper Meg Lanning has led from the front, scoring 221 runs in 5 matches at a strike rate of 139 – the most by any batter in the league so far. She has been well supported by Opener Shafali Verma who has scored 179 runs in 5 matches at a strike rate of 190.42 and has been at her destructive best this season. 30-year-old Lanning will be the MVP for the team going ahead. 

Among the bowlers, for Delhi, Shikha Pandey has made the biggest impact, picking up 8 wickets at an economy of 6.84. Left-arm medium-pacer Tara Norris (7 wickets at 8.09) and Marizanne Kapp (6 wickets at 6.15) will continue to ask questions to the batters.

After losing its main skipper Beth Mooney in the opening encounter since then things haven’t been going too well for the GUJ-W. Gujarat has just one victory to show after 5 games and is unlikely to make it to the playoffs unless they pull off something remarkable in their remaining matches. Gujarat is coming off two huge back-to-back losses – by 10 wickets to DEL-W and by 55 runs to MUM-W– which has severely dented their net run rate too.

For Gujarat, the only batter who has made somewhat of an impression is Harleen Deol, with 133 runs in 4 matches at a strike rate of 143. On the other hand, English opener Sophia Dunkley smashed a 28-ball 65 against BLR-W at the Brabourne Stadium last week. The team would be hoping that the dashing batter can repeat her feat in this match.

GUJ-W might consider bringing in Laura Wolvaardt for this game in place of Beth Mooney. South African opening batter has scored 1079 runs in Women’s T20Is in 53 games and might provide solidity at the top.

Even Gujarat’s bowling hasn’t been that impressive either in the tournament so far. The Irish player Kim Garth has taken 5 wickets in 3 matches at an economy of 9.22 and Aussie all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner has taken 4 wickets in 4 matches at 9.61 are the only ones who have looked like picking up wickets. As a unit, though, they have been really expensive. 

Match Details

Match: DEL-W vs GUJ-W, Match 14, Women's T20 League

Date: Thursday, 16th March

Time: 07:30 PM

Venue: Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai

Pitch & Weather Report

The average 1st innings score at Brabourne Stadium in the WPL is 173. The highest total posted here this season is 223/2 by the Delhi Capitals Women against the Royal Challengers Bangalore Women. Scores above 200 have already been achieved twice in the venue in 6 games. The team batting first should be looking to set a target of around 180 runs.

The maximum temperature will remain at 31°C, with a low of 27°C with 57% humidity, and a wind speed of 19 Km/hr for the fourteen Match, the Women's IND T20 on Mar 16 b/w DEL-W vs GUJ-W. The weather in Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai during the match day will be clear and no rain is predicted in this evening encounter. The weather in Mumbai for this game will be hot and humid.

DEL-W vs GUJ-W Squad:

DEL-W: Jemimah Rodrigues, Shefali Verma, Marizanne Kapp, Meg Lanning, Alice Capsey, Shikha Pandey, Jess Jonassen, Laura Harris, Radha Yadav, Arundhati Reddy, Minnu Mani, Poonam Yadav, Sneha Deepthi, Taniyaa Bhatia, Titas Sadhu, Jasia Akhter, Aparna Mondal and Tara Norris.

GUJ-W: Ashleigh Gardner, Beth Mooney, Georgia Wareham, Sneh Rana, Annabel Sutherland, Deandra Dottin, Sophia Dunkley, Sushma Verma, Tanuja Kanwer, Harleen Deol, Ashwani Kumari, Dayalan Hemalatha, Mansi Joshi, Monica Patel, Sabbineni Meghana, Hurley Gala, Parunika Sisodia, Shabnam Shakil.

DEL-W vs GUJ-W: Probable XIs

DEL-W: Meg Lanning (c), Shafali Verma, Alice Capsey, Jemimah Rodrigues, Marizanne Kapp, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Jess Jonassen, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Tara Norris

GUJ-W: Sabbhineni Meghana, Sophia Dunkley, Harleen Deol, Ashleigh Gardner, Dayalan Hemalatha, Annabel Sutherland, Sushma Verma (wk), Kim Garth, Tanuja Kanwar, Sneh Rana (c), Mansi Joshi

Match Prediction

Meg Lanning's DEL-W will be looking to win this match and confirm their playoff spot after MUM-W who qualified last night. Delhi has the batting depth to plunder runs against this struggling Sneh Rana's GUJ-W bowling lineup. Also, DEL-W's bowling has been doing a great job on these wickets, and we expect them to excel in this match too. GUJ-W is in desperate need of a spark. Perhaps a special knock from one of their top-order batters in this game can revive their campaign. We anticipate DEL-W to win this match against Gujarat and pick its fifth win of the tournament.

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