Mumbai Indians Women vs Delhi Capitals Women, WPL, Today Match Prediction 20 March 2023

miw vs dcw Match Prediction & Analysis

The Women’s IPL is in the final stages, yet the top three places are not fixed. In this crunched situation, current table-toppers Mumbai Indians Women are set to host Delhi Capitals Women. The DC Women are just two points shy from MI Women. The 18th T20 of the league is scheduled at Dr. D Y Patil Sports Academy, Navi Mumbai, on 20th March from 7:30 pm onwards.

In the earlier game, Mumbai Indians suffered their first loss of the season against UP Warriorz in a low-scoring game. Batting first, MI Women managed to score 127 runs. Issy Wong’s 32 off 19 after a top-order failure brought MI Women back into the game. MIW bowlers brought their top performance to restrict UPW to 27 for losing 3 wickets in the first powerplay. But calculated innings from McGrath & Grace Harris, followed by Sophie Ecclestone’s 16, kept UP Warriorz's hopes of the eliminator alive. 

DC Women couldn’t manage to get past Gujrat Giants in their last game. Laura Wolvaardt and Amy Gardner’s half-centuries set a target of 148 for Delhi Capitals Women. Alice Capsey and Lanning made it look like an easy chase in the early stages. But Delhi lost a series of wickets at regular intervals. DCW lost the game by 11 runs. This was their second defeat of the season. 

The match will be important for both teams to skip the eliminator stage. MI has 10 points in 6 games and need one win to get into the First final of the WPL. Their final game is against RCB Women. And after the galvanizing inning from Sophie Devine (99 off 36) in the RCBW game to chase 189 in the 16th over, MIW skipper Harmanpreet would be looking not to keep things hanging for the last game. 

TEAMS PREVIEW

Mumbai Indians Women Preview

The first loss have brought some issues of MIW in the front. One of them is the inexperience of the middle and down order. MIW have won three of their 5 games by 8 or more wickets, which has not given enough time for other batters to face difficult situations. Hopefully, MIW management will work on this to keep the form alive. Hayley Matthews will be our choice for the top player of the match. Matthews has 203 runs with the bat and 11 wickets with the ball in 6 games. She is the fifth-leading run-scorer and third-leading wicket-taker of the tournament.

Harmanpreet Kaur has handled MIW skillfully this season. Kaur is MI’s leading run scorer. She averages 68.33 at a strike rate of 166.66 and has scored the most half-centuries (3) of this season. No doubt, a big inning is coming against DC Women. Nat-Sciver-Brunt is another giant DCW bowlers have to look out for. NSB has 187 runs and 7 wickets in 6 games. 

MIW’s bowling attack is the craziest and most dangerous. Three of the season's top four leading wicket-takers belong to MI Women. Saika Ishaque leads the table with 12 wickets at an average of 10.41 - the best among all. Matthews is third on the list with 11. And it’s Amelia Kerr in 4th position with 10 wickets. The trio has taken a wicket per 12 balls. NSB and Wong will be the remaining two bowlers for MI. 

Key Players: Hayley Matthews, Harmanpreet Kaur, Saika Ishaque.

Mumbai Indians Women Predicted Playing XI:

Hayley Matthews, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Amelia Kerr, Issy Wong, Humaira Kazi, Dhara Gujjar, Amanjot Kaur, Pooja Vastrakar, Saika Ishaque.

Mumbai Indians Women Actual Playing XI:

Yastika Bhatia, Jintimani Nakul Kalita, Hayley Matthews, Amelia Kerr, Saiqa Ishaque, Issy Wong, Natalie Sciver, Harmanpreet Kaur, Pooja Vastrakar, Amanjot Kaur, Humaira Kazi

Delhi Capitals Women Preview

A defeat against Gujrat Giants has changed the qualification track for DCW. They have one game left after this. And it is against UP Warriorz. It is wise not to keep things till the end. Lanning and Shafali Verma have to be at the top of their game. Lanning has scored 239 runs in 6 games with two half-centuries and is currently second in the runs table. She is our choice for the top batter. Verma has a little bit lost the track to the top after back-to-back poor innings. Alice Capsey and Jemimmah Rodriguez will play at numbers three and four. Capsey struck over 160 (strike rate) in the last 4 innings she played. 

Delhi’s top 7 have a strike rate of over 130. They have scored more quickly in the powerplay than any other team. Marizanne, in the middle, has distributed the load on the top order for Delhi. The all-rounder has scored 125 runs in 5 innings. She also has 7 wickets with the ball, including a five-for. Jess Jonassen and Arundhati Reddy can also bat at six and seven. 

DC Women have two five-wicket takers in the team, yet the performance on the sheet doesn’t look consistent. Shikha Pandey is DCW’s leading wicket-taker with 8 wickets at an economy of 6.86. She will team up with Tara Norris. Norris bowled just one over against MIW in the first game to take 1 wicket. Delhi doesn’t have all-rounders like MI. So most of the expectations will be on the top order to score massive runs. 

Key Players: Shafali Verm, Meg Lanning, Marizanne Kapp.

Delhi Capitals Women Predicted Playing XI:

Meg Lanning (c), Shafali Verma, Marizanne Kapp, Jemimah Rodrigues, Alice Capsey, Jess Jonassen, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Minnu Mani, Shikha Pandey, Radha Yadav, Tara Norris

Delhi Capitals Women Actual Playing XI:

Meg Lanning, Taniya Bhatia, Jess Jonassen, Shikha Pandey, Alice Capsey, Poonam Yadav, Jemimah Rodrigues, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Marizanne Kapp, Shafali Verma

PITCH AND WEATHER CONDITIONS

Weather Conditions

The weather will be partly cloudy. The temperature will range between 24 and 31°C. The wind will be flowing from the west at 9-17 kmh. The wicket has produced some high-scoring games in recent times. The green top gives some bounce to pacers in the early stages. Overall it’s a batting pitch.

Venue Details

The 18th T20 will be played at Dr. D Y Patil Sports Academy, Navi Mumbai, on 13th March from 7:30 pm onwards.  The venue holds a capacity of 60000 spectators and has hosted 2 T20WIs and 8 WPL games so far. Australia Women has registered the highest total (187) at this venue.

Toss: To Bowl

The team batting second in the 8 T20s of WPL2023 has chased the target on 6 occasions. Delhi has won 3 out of the four games played at this venue. The last five games have shown chasing targets will be an ideal choice. The team winning the toss should bowl first.