Meg Lanning's Delhi lost their season opener narrowly to Mumbai Indians in a thriller, but have since regrouped and beat the UP Warriors and Royal Challengers Bangalore comprehensively to get into their stride. DC are second in the standings with four points and a game in hand as against table-toppers Mumbai. (More Cricket News)
Gujarat, on the other hand, have failed to get going so far. Mumbai, UP and Bangalore have all drubbed Beth Mooney's side, which is currently winless and at the bottom of the pile. GG urgently need a win to stay in contention for the knock-out stage.
Gujarat Giants and Delhi Capitals have faced each other twice before in the inaugural season of the Women's Premier League, and won one game apiece. In the first encounter, Delhi had restricted Gujarat to a lowly total of 105/9 and then chased it down with all 10 wickets intact. The second clash saw Gujarat pulling off a turnaround victory - putting a total of 147 runs on the board and then bowling out Delhi for 136.
Squads:
Delhi Capitals Women: Alice Capsey, Arundhati Reddy, Jemimah Rodrigues, Jess Jonassen, Laura Harris, Marizanne Kapp, Meg Lanning (c), Minnu Mani, Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Shafali Verma, Shikha Pandey, Sneha Deepthi, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Titas Sadhu, Annabel Sutherland, Aparna Mondal (wk), Ashwani Kumari.
Gujarat Giants Women: Beth Mooney (wk/c), Laura Wolvaardt, Harleen Deol, Phoebe Litchfield, Ashleigh Gardner, Veda Krishnamurthy, Dayalan Hemalatha, Sneh Rana, Tanuja Kanwar, Meghna Singh, Mannat Kashyap, Shabnam Md Shakil, Priya Mishra, Trisha Poojitha, Kashvee Gautam, Tarannum Pathan, Kathryn Bryce, Lauren Cheatle.
Let's take a peek at three key player battles ahead of the DC-W vs GG-W game.
Ashleigh Gardner Vs Marizanne Kapp
South African seam-bowling all-rounder Marizanne Kapp has been in prime wicket-taking form in the tournament and has bagged six scalps in three games so far, including figures of 4-1-5-3 in a mesmerizing unchanged spell against the UP Warriorz. She will eye another good outing with the ball against Gujarat.
But for that, she will have to contend with another reliable all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner. The 26-year-old Aussie right-hander has not lit up the WPL so far, but is bound to do so at some stage given her talent. She smashed a 17-ball 30 in her previous outing against the UP Warriorz, and will be hoping to tackle Kapp's medium pace similarly.
Harleen Deol Vs Shikha Pandey
An intriguing all-Indian battle could be on the cards today. Though she hasn't done much with the bat in the first three games, India middle-order batter Harleen Deol is a vital cog in the Gujarat batting wheel and needs to fire for her team to revive its campaign. She aggregated 202 runs in the first WPL edition and will be eying a fruitful outing on Sunday.
But it will not be easy going for her against veteran India seamer Shikha Pandey, who can move the ball prodigiously. Her big in-swinging deliveries have caused the downfall of many a batter, and Shikha will aim to do the same against Harleen.
Shafali Verma Vs Kathryn Bryce
Indian batting prodigy Shafali Verma has made her intentions amply clear with back-to-back half-centuries in her previous two outings. She blazed away to an unbeaten 64 against UP Warriorz and followed it up with a 31-ball 50 to help her team win both matches.
She will be gunning for another explosive start to the DC innings, and it remains to be seen whether she will be able to force the pace against Scottish bowling all-rounder Kathryn Bryce. The 26-year-old seamer usually bowls with the new ball and has enough tricks in her repertoire to bamboozle Shafali.
