Gujarat Giants Women vs Delhi Capitals Women, Eliminator, Women's Premier League 2026 - Commentary

So just the one game left in this year's edition of the WPL. It will be between RCB and DC. We will be there nice and early for that one. Do remember to join us for that. Till then it's time for you to check out a host of stuff on the site. We will bounce off into the night and make good use of what is left of it. On that note, tata and bye bye.

Jemimah Rodrigues | Player of the Match and DC-W captain: Oh, it's great. This finals feels different for sure. But also I think with GG, the last two games didn't go our way. We were.... Last over we needed seven runs, today we won by seven wickets. So I think when you just keep believing as a team, magic happens. (any changed plans?) Nothing. To be honest, nothing. Even our team meeting was very short today. I think we just thought of not overthinking it or trying too hard. Just sit back, trust each other, trust yourself, go out there, play good cricket and when you do things the right way and stay calm, things fall into place. (on the bowlers) I think a lot of credit goes to our bowlers. Kappy, I'm saying this, our bowlers won us the game today. But to be honest, they make me look good as a captain. You know, it's easy to set a field, it's easy to get the bowling changes, but you've got to still go out there and deliver. And everyone's been delivering. And yeah, I mean, one more game to go and we keep the same plans. (on not stuttering after losing the openers) Yeah, I think today was restoration for us. I would just say that. And to be honest, the way Shafali and Lee, from both the ends, you know, if they bat that way, it's very hard as a bowling team. Where do you bowl? So I'm so glad both of them are in my team. At the same time, two wickets falling. That does build a lot of pressure, but I love the way both Wolfie and I just kept playing good, positive cricket. Didn't worry too much about the score again. We played according to the merit and stuck to our strengths. We complemented each other well, ran well between the wickets. And yeah happy to be on the winning side. (on her being positive with bat) I think I was doing one thing, I was trying way too hard. And the last two games, I just let go. I let go, backed myself, didn't even go and practice because I was practising so hard, trying and when I was going and trying to hit every ball perfectly and get everything right. I was like, you know what? It's like, I remember one of the interviews I heard, it's like the butterfly, the more desperate you are, the more further it goes away. But the more you just let go, it comes and sits on your shoulder. And that's what I did. And I'm happy it's coming. It's coming off well. And also a lot of credit goes to Wolfie for her to bat on such tracks. I know it's not easy tracks, but for her to bat with such intent and such positivity. It's great. But yeah, one more game to go. We're going to keep our plans simple, keep being positive, but yeah, one more game to go, then we'll celebrate. (plans for the rest day?) I think it's going to be super chill. Whoever wants to practice will practice, but I don't think many will because we've played like in six days, three games. So just about staying fresh mentally and because everyone's well prepared. Everyone's done their bit. Just time to go out there on the fifth and play some good cricket.

Fourth straight WPL final for Delhi Capitals.

In all three previous seasons, the winner of the Eliminator went on to lift the WPL trophy.

First win for DC-W against GG-W after three consecutive losses.

Each of DC-W’s five wins this season has come while chasing the target.

DC-W innings is the first time each of the top four scoring 30-plus in a WPL innings.

169 runs is also the highest target successfully chased in WPL playoffs.

15.4 overs taken to complete the chase by DC is the second-least overs taken for a successful 160-plus target chase in WPL, behind 15.3 overs (Tar: 189) by RCB against GG at Brabourne in 2023.

Wolvaardt vs spin in WPL 2026
Runs: 170
Balls: 123
Dismissals: 2
Avg: 85.0
SR: 138.2
4s/6s: 14/5

Most drop catches in WPL 2026
15 - GG (68.7 Ct%)
12 - UPW (67.5 Ct%)
11 - MI (75.0 Ct%)
9 - RCB (79.0 Ct%)
8 - DCW (83.6 Ct%)

Lizelle Lee: Yeah, look, it (keeping in the first innings) always helps me get my eye in. So yeah lucky that we won the toss again and we had a chance to field first. (On the team's fielding) I feel like overall our fielding hasn't been too bad, actually. I think we've been really good in the field. And tonight was just another show of that. And I think the bowlers did extremely well to restrict them to that total. (On Jemimah's captaincy) She's a very positive captain and I think she's doing extremely well to gather the troops and just get the best out of them. And I really like that about her. (Gameplan with Shafali in the innings break) It's just to try and play straight. We all know these wickets, you want to play straight as much as possible. And it's just about making good decisions. And I think we have done that pretty well tonight. (if the new-ball behaved randomly tonight?) No, because normally I sort of stand on the same place. And it just stayed low a bit and then it came through. So it was a bit tricky, but you can't really go up in the first few with bowlers swinging the ball away. So I think we just have to make the best out of it. (On her one-handed catch to dismiss Devine) Yeah, it was terrible, wasn't it? I think it was just reactions taking over, but definitely I needed to do two hands on that one. But yeah, I'll take it. (Taking on RCB in the final) I feel like we just have to make sure we stick to our basic and make sure we play what's in front of us and whatever happened in the past happened and we just have to take every game as a new one. So hopefully we can do that in the final. (Is it a big training session tomorrow?) Definitely not. Probably going to stay in bed the whole day (laughs).

Gardner 2/2: (on the bowling) A little bit, yeah. Obviously we have so many great bowlers within our lineup, which is a fantastic thing for me as a captain and knowing that we had some real wicket-takers within our lineup. Obviously Georgia Wareham set the tone with her first over taking those two crucial wickets, but we just weren't able to do that for long periods of time, which is obviously really disappointing. You know, there's so much things to be proud of throughout this season, getting to finals two years in a row. For this team, obviously, we had a pretty brutal start to the WPL. We didn't win many games, so to do back-to-back, making finals two years in a row, there's certainly plenty of positives to take out of it, but plenty of learnings as well going forward. (on their team) Yeah, absolutely. I feel like this is probably the most balanced Giants side that we've had. Obviously, being here from the start, I've kind of seen the evolution of either players or just the way that we go about our cricket. And yeah, I think, you know, we've unearthed some fantastic talent. Looking at someone like Anushka Sharma, she hasn't looked out of place. 20 years old, batting 3, and what's almost like international cricket. She's, I guess, looked at home. And then you look at someone like Rajeshwari, who's come into this side and she has so much experience. And I guess talking about the Indian players the most, I think they're the players that almost win you these competitions. And then in saying that, someone like Sophie Devine has been fantastic throughout the whole campaign as well. So I think it's certainly the most balanced side that we've had. And hopefully we can keep the core group going forward and then go one better next year. (overall thoughts on the season) I mean, there's so many positives. I think there was a different person that stood up in every game. And, you know, as a captain, that's kind of what you want. You don't want to rely on one or two people. And I guess, yeah, going into this changeroom with, like I said, there's been, you know, either youth step up or experience step up at different moments. And so many learnings, so many positives to take out of it. Ultimately, I would love to be sitting there on the fifth playing in the final, but obviously someone's got to lose, unfortunately. And it was us tonight. We just didn't play our best cricket. So, yeah, trying to keep a smile on our face. You know, we did really well throughout the season. We clawed our way back into games that we thought we were behind on. We kind of set the benchmark early in the tournament, you know, putting massive totals on the board. So plenty of positives, plenty of learnings, and yeah, lots of perspective going into next year.

Ash Gardner | GG-W captain (1/2): Yeah, obviously, you know, probably wasn't the most ideal start. I think Moons did a fantastic job of kind of rescuing the innings with Georgia Wareham. You know, we felt like that was enough at halfway if we bowled well, but ultimately when you don't start the powerplay, either taking wickets or restricting runs, it kind of brings that team in and obviously they took the powerplay on, which is what they do. That's their ammo and yeah, they obviously did that brilliantly today. (was the total defendable?) Yeah, we felt like it was obviously defendable, but yeah, I guess, like I said, when you don't kind of put the pressure on early with the ball in the powerplay, it kind of just brings the other team in knowing that, you know, once the dew kind of sets in, the ball slides on if you miss the stumps and ultimately we just missed the stumps a little bit too much tonight. Gave them too many freehits early. We obviously know the way that they play. They want to attack the bowler, put you under pressure and they obviously did that really well tonight. And I guess we weren't able to adapt quick enough and we were put on the back foot pretty quickly.

22:41 Local Time, 17:11 GMT, 22:41 IST: Such an easy chase this. Set up by the openers - Lizelle Lee and Shafali Verma. They were so strong in the powerplay and half the job was done there itself. 89 was the stand and though both the openers went in the same Wareham over, Jemi and Wolvaardt ensured there were no issues. Delhi have had problems in chasing games down this season and have lost to this unit twice in the last over as Devine defended runs both times. No such heroics from the New Zealander tonight. Jemi is over the moon and so are her team-mates. Gujarat were taken apart in the powerplay and they bowled too many slots balls to the powerful duo of Lee and Shafali. That's where the game ran away from them. Stay tuned for the post-match stuff...

Jemimah Rodrigues vs spin in WPL 2026
Inngs: 7
Runs: 122
Balls: 83
Dismissals: 3
Avg: 40.7
SR: 147.0
4s/6s: 14/1