Rodrigues set for captaincy debut against wounded Mumbai Indians

When Delhi Capitals (DC) held a press conference to announce their captain before the inaugural edition of the WPL, there was a lot of buzz. They had Meg Lanning, a serial World Cup winner with Australia, in their ranks. But they had bid hard for Jemimah Rodrigues at the auction. They had staved off Mumbai Indians, the team from Rodrigues' home city, and bagged the India batter for INR 2.2 crore.

Appointing Lanning as captain was a no-brainer; she was fresh off leading Australia to their fourth T20 World Cup title as captain just days ago. However, Rodrigues' candidature was strong, not least because she is managed by JSW Sports, the sports arm of the co-owners of DC. The role would not have been new to her, per se. She had captained Mumbai in Under-19 cricket before. She went on to lead Mumbai to the Senior Women's T20 Trophy in 2023-24 while also topping the batting charts.

Having been the deputy to Lanning, one of the best minds in the sport, Rodrigues now gets her time under the sun. She takes over as DC captain at a time when the side is searching for the next leap. They have been runners-up in each of the three editions. The responsibility comes at a time when her graph as a batter is also on the rise; her knock in the World Cup semi-final was epochal.

As a batter, Rodrigues is DC's third-highest run-getter and her strike rate of 207.4 at the death (overs 17-20) is the second-best among those who have faced at least 50 balls in the phase. It's not easy to do both at the same time.

Her first game as captain in the WPL is against Harmanpreet Kaur's Mumbai Indians (MI), who are not just serial winners but also know a thing or two about coming back from tough situations. The proof lay on the opening night of the competition, where they were pushed back twice but found a way back. First, they were reduced to 67 for 4 in the 11th over after being asked to bat, but found rescuers in S Sajana and debutant Nicola Carey, who got them to 154. That total looked respectable at best when Royal Challengers Bengaluru [RCB] got to 40 in three overs. But Shabnim Ismail and Amelia Kerr, both of whom MI went hard for at the auction and got back, almost tripped up RCB.

The DY Patil Stadium has been a place for many new beginnings for Indian women's cricket: the start of the WPL, the start of India's winning run at the World Cup, the World Cup win itself. On Saturday, it will add another chapter, that of being the venue of Rodrigues' captaincy stint in the WPL.

Hayley Matthews was sidelined with a shoulder strain for the first game, which meant MI had to shuffle their otherwise settled batting line-up. In case she gets fit, the defending champions will have a tough act of deciding between Kerr, who struggled at the top of the order but bowled exceptionally, and Nicola Carey, who provided the finishing touches with the ball.

Mumbai Indians: 1 Amelia Kerr, 2 G Kamalini (wk), 3 Nat Sciver-Brunt, 4 Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), 5 Nicola Carey, 6 S Sajana, 7 Amanjot Kaur, 8 Poonam Khemnar, 9 Sanskruti Gupta, 10 Shabnim Ismail, 11 Saika Ishaque

DC are likely to slot Laura Wolvaardt as a straight swap for Lanning at the top. The only area of contention in a line-up that largely selects itself is whether they go with an extra quick in Nandani Sharma or an offspin-allrounder in Minnu Mani.

Delhi Capitals: 1. Shafali Verma, 2 Laura Wolvaardt, 3 Jemimah Rodrigues (capt), 4 Marizanne Kapp, 5 Niki Prasad, 6 Chinelle Henry, 7 Alana King, 8 Taniya Bhatia (wk), 9 Minnu Mani, 10 Sneh Rana, 11 N Shree Charani

Taniya Bhatia has been with DC for all the WPL seasons so far. In 2025, though, she did not play a game with Sarah Bryce being preferred over her for her superior batting ability. The move was justified with Bryce finishing with a strike rate of 150. Bhatia has batted only five times in 18 games, with a strike rate of 29.41; her strike rate in the domestic T20 tournament this year was 91.26, though she is one of the best wicketkeepers in India.

Opening the innings in the absence of Matthews, Amelia Kerr looked all at sea against Lauren Bell's moving ball. Read all you want into it, for she is coming off her maiden T20 century, at the women's Super Smash only ten days ago. She had followed it with a half-century as well. Against RCB, Kerr more than made up for the sloppy start with the ball by going to the top of the pile among the leading wicket-takers in the WPL.

With an inexperienced seam attack at DC, how Marizanne Kapp's overs are spread out could hold the key to their fortunes. In the WPL so far, she has primarily been used in the powerplay and the middle overs, where she swings the ball. She has bowled only five overs at the death (overs 17-20) in the competition, and has an economy of 11.2 in that phase. Even accounting for slow, sticky conditions, which could nudge DC to use more spin overs towards the end of the economy, Kapp might be required to bowl more overs towards the close of the innings with Chinelle Henry being the only other experienced seamer.

Teams chasing have won nine times in 12 games at the DY Patil Stadium. MI almost successfully defended 154 on a surface that was slightly tacky. Dew made an appearance but quite late in the chase. Expect the team winning the toss to chase but if the opening night is any indication, bowlers needn't worry and go into hiding if they are tasked with bowling under lights.