All-round Shafali Verma stars as stuttering DC bag first points

In the bottom of the table clash, Delhi Capitals overcame the UP Warriorz off the last ball to register their first win of WPL 2026. With 68 needed off 10 balls and 10 wickets in hand, DC took it to the last ball as they made a comfortable chase hard for themselves. Shafali Verma's all-round performance (36 off 32 and 2 for 16) and Lizelle Lee (67) played a pivotal role in DC's win.

With six needed from six, Marizanne Kapp hit a boundary of the second ball to bring it down to two from four. Two dots and a single followed while jitters from DC's previous game began to rise. However, Laura Wolvaardt hit a boundary off the last ball to seal the win. The defeat has left UPW winless after three games.

Warriorz were put into bat by Jemimah Rodrigues. On the second ball, Kapp thudded Kiran Navgire's pads but the appeal was turned down by the umpire. On review, Navgire survived thanks to umpire's call on wickets but the batter made a hash of it as she lofted the next delivery straight to mid-off. Australians Meg Lanning and Phoebe Litchfield wasted no time as they scored three boundaries off the second over. Litchfield continued to don the aggressor's role as she found two more boundaries in the next over. Three more boundaries followed in the PowerPlay as UPW ended it healthily at 47 for 1.

Immediately after the first-six, Sneh Rana turned one past the dancing Litchfield to have her stumped. Once again, UPW began to rebuild and once again it looked to set up the foundation for a big score. Lanning joined hands with Harleen Deol and the duo began to unleash the paddles, sweeps, pulls and unsheathe the long levers as boundaries were scored in every over from the 7th to 12th. Three boundaries each in the 11th and 12th over saw UPW soar past 100 while Lanning brought up her 50 off 32 deliveries. Deol crunched two fours off Shree Charani before crunching an extra-cover drive off Verma as they reached 130/2 in just 15 overs.

But things took a dramatic turn for the batting side as Lanning fell to Nandni Sharma, holing out to deep mid-wicket. With only 11 runs scored off the 16th and 17th over, the set batter Deol was surprisingly retired out. It left Deol bemused as she walked off disappointed on 47. The move might have worked for Gujarat Giants the night earlier but it didn't for UPW as Chloe Tryon, the new batter, fell to Charani for a three-ball one. Kapp had Sophie Ecclestone plumb in front as UPW continued to capsize at the death. Verma then picked up Shweta Sehrawat and No. 9 batter Deepti Sharma as UPW ended on 154 for 8, having scored only 24 in their last five overs for the fall of five wickets.

In response, DC began in good fashion through openers Lee and Verma. They didn't let the opening bowlers settle as they found early boundaries with the runs consistently beginning to flow. Lee then powered Tryon for 16 runs in the final over of the PowerPlay to end the first stage at 46/0. Even Sophie Ecclestone wasn't allowed to get into the groove as Lee slog-swept her for six before Verma added two boundaries in an 18-run over.

Lee brought up her fifty following a six off Tryon as DC were going close to nine runs an over at the half-way stage of their innings. In the 12th over, Verma fell to Asha Sobhana, ending the 94-run association. Deepti picked up Lee in the 15th over with the South African attempting to hit her way out after DC managed to score only 21 from overs 11 to 14.

The experienced Ecclestone was taken for 13 in the 16th over. Rodrigues brought out the sweeps and reverse-sweeps to proactively combat Deepti in a 12-run 17th over. UPW pulled things back in the next two overs conceding just nine and picked up the wicket of Rodrigues ending the 34-run stand. DC made a simple chase tricky for themselves but they will be pleased to have gotten off the mark in the 2026 season.

Brief Scores: UP Warriorz 154/8 in 20 overs (Meg Lanning 54, Harleen Deol 47; Shafali Verma 2-16, Marizanne Kapp 2-24) lost to Delhi Capitals 158/3 in 20 overs (Lizelle Lee 67, Shafali Verma 36; Deepti Sharma 2-26, Asha Sobhana 1-20) by seven wickets