Delhi Capitals have reached the final of every edition of the WPL so far, but this year their campaign has started with two back-to-back losses. A gap in their squad explains their poor start to the competition, and why it will be difficult for them to fix.
A re-run of last year’s final faced Delhi first up in this year’s WPL, against their nemesis Mumbai Indians. MI were already warmed-up by a thrilling first-match against RCB, which was stolen from them at the last gasp thanks to a Nadine de Klerk special.
Nevertheless, on paper, the two sides seemingly stack-up. They both have packed top-orders, two India giants at No.4 and star overseas openers making up one half of their opening partnerships. Laura Wolvaardt in a direct match-up with Nat Sciver-Brunt at No.3 is a sensational battle for the best all-format batter in the world, with Marizanne Kapp also matching-up as a seam-bowling all-rounder.
But, when it came down to it, Delhi were decimated. Sciver-Brunt and Harmanpreet Kaur combined for a huge partnership after a big breakthrough with Amelia Kerr out for a golden duck. Nicola Carey’s quick-fire 21 gave Mumbai a total Delhi’s star-studded batting unit would all need to fire to chase down. Instead, they crumbled, with Chinelle Henry’s half-century the only contribution of note.
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Against Gujarat in their second outing, that batting unit did fire, but still fell agonizingly short of the 210 run total they were chasing. In both games, there were too many runs on the board for them to get, and a hole in their bowling lineup means chasing big totals will be something the Delhi batting lineup may have to get used to.
Middle-overs muddle
For the last couple of seasons, Delhi have boasted some of the most effective middle overs bowlers in the competition. In particular, Arundhati Reddy has been a key part of their attack. No one has taken more wickets than she has in the last two editions of the WPL combined and, in the 2025 competition, her bowling average in overs 7-15 was 13.5, with her strike rate during the same phase at 14. Only Grace Harris had better figures in both categories.
Despite this, Delhi chose not to retain Reddy ahead of the mega-auction, and RCB out-bid them to snap her up for 75 lakh.
Reddy wasn’t the only bowler who was effective for Delhi in the middle overs last season. Only Amelia Kerr took more wickets than Annabel Sutherland in this phase in the 2025 tournament. In addition to Sutherland, Jess Jonassen took the same number of wickets in the middle overs (4) as Reddy during the 2024/25 edition. Both Sutherland and Jonassen dropped out of this year’s edition, Jonassen before the auction because of injury, and Sutherland just weeks before the competition having been retained by Delhi. Her dropping out meant all three of Delhi’s lynchpins in the middle overs were no longer available to them.
Most wickets from overs 7-15 in the 2025 WPL
| Player | Team | Wickets | Strike-rate | Econ |
| Amelia Kerr | Mumbai Indians | 13 | 14.2 | 7.2 |
| Annabel Sutherland | Delhi Capitals | 5 | 25.8 | 7.9 |
| Priya Mishra | Gujarat Giants | 5 | 25.8 | 7.9 |
| Georgia Wareham | RCB | 4 | 30.5 | 8.1 |
| Kim Garth | RCB | 4 | 13.5 | 5.8 |
| Arundhati Reddy | Delhi Capitals | 4 | 13.5 | 8.8 |
| Tanuja Kanwar | Gujarat Giants | 4 | 20.0 | 7.6 |
| Hayley Matthews | Mumbai Indians | 4 | 19.0 | 6.6 |
| Jess Jonassen | Delhi Capitals | 4 | 24.3 | 7.1 |
| Kranti Gaud | UP Warriorz | 4 | 20.3 | 9.3 |
The effect of that was clear to see in both of their opening fixtures. Against Mumbai, Kapp and Henry got Delhi off to a good start, conceding 33 runs between them off the powerplay and Henry getting Kerr first ball. In the sixth over, Jemimah Rodrigues threw the ball to Sree Charani, who played two games for Delhi last season, including the final where she conceded 43 runs off four overs. This time, she struggled to get her pitch right to Sciver-Brunt, before the England captain hit a ball which should have gone to the boundary straight to cover.
Charani is a good option in the middle overs. She dismissed both Beth Mooney and Georgia Wareham in Delhi’s game against Gujarat Titans, and came back strongly from being dispatched by Sophie Devine. However, she lacks support from the rest of Delhi’s attack. Sneh Rana leaked runs against MI and was pulverised by Devine against GG, while Delhi have also had to find overs from Henry and Shafali Verma in between powerplays in both games so far. Both all-rounders are more suited to bowling at different points in the innings, but had to be called upon to stop the flow of runs.
Delhi do have other options to paper over the hole. Nandani Sharma has been a revelation at the death so far, but has also found ways of limiting scoring in the middle. There’s also Minnu Mani, who could be used more throughout the tournament. However, covering the lack of both of their marquee Australia players and Reddy in the middle-overs, will be a challenge Delhi will have to negotiate for the entire tournament.
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