Explained: How Delhi Capitals reached the WPL 2023 final ahead of Mumbai Indians

The league stage of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2023 ended on Tuesday, March 21. Mumbai Indians (MI) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the first match of the double-header played at the DY Patil Sports Academy in Mumbai. Delhi Capitals (DC) got the better of UP Warriorz (UPW) in the second match at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.

While both MI and DC finished with 12 points each, the latter reached the WPL 2023 final on the basis of having a superior net run rate. The development was somewhat surprising as Mumbai dominated the league stage and looked set to finish as table-toppers.

Harmanpreet Kaur-led Mumbai won their first five matches in a row before registering their first loss in WPL 2023, going down to UP Warriorz by five wickets. On the other hand, Delhi won four of their first five games; their only loss coming against the Mumbai Indians. Like MI, DC also lost their sixth match, going down to Gujarat Giants (GG) by 11 runs.

It was the second meeting between Mumbai and Delhi that turned the tables quite literally. This was the seventh match for both teams. MI batted first after losing the toss and were held to 109 for 8. A strong Mumbai battling line-up failed to stand up to Delhi’s challenge as Marizanne Kapp (2/13), Shikha Pandey (2/21) and Jess Jonassen (2/25) throttled the opposition.

Meg Lanning (32* off 32), Shafali Verma (33 off 15) and Alice Capsey (38* off 17) then came out all guns blazing as DC chased down the target by nine wickets in a mere nine overs. The magnitude of the triumph pushed Delhi to the top of the points table, with Mumbai slipping to second spot.

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MI had a chance to reclaim top position when they faced RCB in their last league clash on Tuesday. However, they needed to beat their opposition handsomely and then hope that Delhi either lost to UPW or finished with a lower net run rate even if they won. None of that happened.

Mumbai did get the better of Bangalore, but not in convincing fashion. Chasing 126, they lost six wickets and went past the finish line in 16.3 overs. In the other game, Delhi beat UP by five wickets in 17.5 overs, chasing a target of 139.

DC finished with a net run rate of +1.856, while MI’s run rate was +1.711. Meg Lanning and co. thus booked their place in the WPL 2023 final ahead of Mumbai.