Unchanged UP Warriorz bowl; Gujarat Giants bring Wyatt-Hodge in for Wareham

Gujarat Giants (GG), who have lost each of their last three matches, were asked to bat first in UP Warriorz's (UPW) first WPL 2026 match of the Vadodara leg. Meg Lanning said it was "a little bit dewy already" and opted to go in with an unchanged side that is coming off a five-day break. UPW last played on the final day of the Navi Mumbai leg, which they finished with back-to-back wins over Mumbai Indians.

GG made a couple of tweaks to their XI that lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). Danni Wyatt-Hodge, who was part of UPW in 2024 but was then traded to RCB, came in for legspinning allrounder Georgia Wareham. Rajeshwari Gayakwad replaced fellow left-arm spinner Tanuja Kanwar, who has been wicketless so far.

On the third match day of the Vadodara leg, a new pitch was used with both square boundaries 55m away from the centre. The straight hit was 66m. It was a black-soil surface with visible cracks, and Mithali Raj said that it was well-rolled and the ball would skid through under lights.

While RCB won defending the target at the Kotambi Stadium, Delhi Capitals achieved a successful chase in the previous match.

Gujarat Giants: 1 Beth Mooney (wk), 2 Sophie Devine, 3 Danni Wyatt-Hodge 4 Anushka Sharma, 5 Ashleigh Gardner (capt), 6 Kanika Ahuja, 7 Bharti Fulmali, 8 Kashvee Gautam, 9 Happy Kumari, 10 Renuka Singh, 11 Rajeshwari Gayakwad

UP Warriorz: 1 Meg Lanning (capt), 2 Kiran Navgire, 3 Phoebe Litchfield, 4 Harleen Deol, 5 Chloe Tryon, 6 Shweta Sehrawat (wk), 7 Deepti Sharma, 8 Sophie Ecclestone, 9 Asha Sobhana, 10 Shikha Pandey, 11 Kranti Gaud