DC look to ride on in-form Shafali in rematch of 2023 final against MI

Posted By on February 14, 2025

Who’s playing

Delhi Capitals (DC) vs Mumbai Indians (MI)
Kotambi Stadium, Vadodara, February 15, 2025, 7.30pm IST

What to expect: All eyes on in-form Shafali

The contest is not only a rematch of the 2023 WPL final, but also a repeat of the first match of last season which ended in a thrilling last-ball finish. MI may have come out victorious both times, but DC are two-time finalists who have also finished on top of the table on both occasions. The Meg Lanning-Shafali Verma partnership has been among the highlights for DC over the last two seasons. The pair has the most total partnership runs in the tournament – 868 runs in 18 innings – and also holds the record for the highest-ever partnership of 162 runs in a WPL game.

Shafali was also dropped from the Indian team last year but she has responded with some superb form in domestic cricket. She’ll be keen on excelling in the WPL to get her national spot back. However, MI will be hoping their experienced pacer Shabnim Ismail nullifies the Shafali threat once again. Ismail got Shafali out in the last two matches these teams played.

Team news and likely XIs: Vastrakar ruled out for MI

Unlike most other teams, DC are coming into the tournament without injury concerns or player unavailability. DC’s latest recruit, Nandini Kashyap, is likely to make her WPL debut and take up Taniya Bhatia’s role as the wicketkeeper-batter.

DC (probable): 1 Shafali Verma, 2 Meg Lanning (capt), 3 Alice Capsey, 4 Jemimah Rodrigues, 5 Marizanne Kapp, 6 Nandini Kashyap (wk), 7 Jess Jonassen, 8 Minnu Mani, 9 Shikha Pandey, 10 Arundhati Reddy, 11 Radha Yadav

In a blow to MI, seam-bowling allrounder Pooja Vastrakar was ruled out of the WPL with an injury, with India Under-19’s left-arm spinner Parunika Sisodia replacing her.

MI (probable): 1 Yastika Bhatia (wk), 2 Hayley Matthews, 3 Nat Sciver-Brunt, 4 Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), 5 Amelia Kerr, 6 S Sajana, 7 Amanjot Kaur, 8 Akshita Maheshwari, 9 SB Keerthana, 10 Shabnim Ismail, 11 Saika Ishaque

Players to watch: Arundhati Reddy and Amelia Kerr

Like Shafali, Arundhati Reddy also recently lost her spot in the Indian team. It was her impressive outing in WPL 2024 where she picked up eight wickets in nine games for DC that had earned her India spot back, and she’ll be looking to use the platform to stage a comeback again.
For MI, Amelia Kerr will be among their key players this time. Player of the Series at last year’s T20 World Cup, Kerr is also in excellent form with the bat and ball, recently leading Wellington to a title win in the Women’s Super Smash, New Zealand’s domestic 20-over competition, where she scored 441 runs and picked 15 wickets in 12 games.

Key stats

  • Harmanpreet Kaur needs 37 runs to become the second Indian woman to complete 8000 T20 career runs after Smriti Mandhana.

Sruthi Ravindranath is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

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