DC banking on red-hot top order to get over final hurdle

Where DC finished last year

Runners-up for a third season in a row. Delhi Capitals (DC) had topped the table in the league stage, qualifying directly for the final.

What's new in 2026

A new captain. DC did not retain Meg Lanning, who led them to the final in each of the first three seasons. Jemimah Rodrigues, the vice-captain in the last cycle, has been handed the reins. Rodrigues has captained Mumbai in the domestic circuit but filling in Lanning's shoes is one of the toughest jobs in the sport.

DC will also be without Australia allrounder Annabel Sutherland, a retained player who withdrew after the auction. Australia's legspinner Alana King is her replacement. At the auction, DC picked West Indies allrounder Chinelle Henry, who is also a seam-bowling allrounder, and will have a larger role to play in Sutherland's absence.

DC also went all out to get back their left-arm spinner N Shree Charani, who was part of India's World Cup-winning side. They also have two of the most exciting teenagers in the competition - Deeya Yadav, the 16-year-old batter from Haryana, and Lucy Hamilton, the 19-year-old uncapped left-arm quick from Australia.

Off the field, they made tweaks to their support staff. Anagha Deshpande, who has been a successful coach for Uttarakhand in the domestic circuit, was appointed as the fielding coach while former India coach Anju Jain, who was with UP Warriorz in the first two seasons, joined as an assistant coach.

Strength and weakness

Despite Lanning's departure, DC's top order is strong because of an almost like-for-like in South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt. Following her successful outings at the World Cup last year, there will be high hopes from her to form a destructive combination at the top with Shafali Verma. DC also have an explosive wicketkeeper batter in Lizelle Lee, who retired from internationals in 2022 but is coming on the back of a stellar WBBL. That aside, there are a lot of multi-faceted players in the squad, which looks steady despite the few changes.

The one glaring weakness in DC's squad is Indian fast bowling. Having let go of Shikha Pandey, the most successful Indian seamer in the WPL, DC selected the unheralded Nandani Sharma, who plays for Chandigarh in domestic cricket. Hamilton is inexperienced in sub-continent conditions, and so a lot will fall on the shoulders of Henry and Marizanne Kapp.

Players to watch

Shafali Verma: There are many reasons to keep an eye on Shafali in WPL 2026. She will not have her regular partner-in-crime in Lanning at the top. That aside, she has brought in an element of restraint in her overall batting in recent times. There has been a conscious effort to not play rash shots, especially early in her innings. A small evidence was seen in the recent T20I series against Sri Lanka, where she hit just five sixes and 37 fours, the most she has hit in any series. Her focus on playing along the ground, which she admittedly worked on after being dropped from India's ODI squad in 2024, was visible and how she goes in the WPL will be keenly watched.

Lucy Hamilton: She is only 19 and could well be the point-of-difference as the only left-arm seamer in WPL 2026. She first grabbed headlines in 2024 for being the youngest to pick up a five-for in the WBBL. She was Australia's captain at the Under-19 Women's T20 World Cup last year, and heads into her maiden WPL season after finishing as Brisbane Heat's leading wicket-taker (8) in a winless WBBL competition for the team.

DC's best XI

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 Sneh Rana, 10 N Shree Charani, 11 Nandani Sharma

Rest of the DC squad

Deeya Yadav, Lizelle Lee, Madiwala Mamatha, Lucy Hamilton, Minnu Mani

First three fixtures

vs Mumbai Indians, Jan 10
vs Gujarat Giants, Jan 11
vs UP Warriorz, Jan 14