WPL Final: Toss crucial in dew-heavy Brabourne as Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians clash | Cricket News

Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Capitals (Photo Credit: @wplt20 on X)

MUMBAI: It won’t come as a surprise if Saturday’s WPL finalists—Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals—opt to chase if the toss rolls in their favour.
Both teams have enjoyed success while hunting down targets this edition.
MI have opted to bat second on five occasions and have won four games. DC decided to chase on six occasions and succeeded in five of them, twice against their rivals on Saturday.
With both teams batting deep, they feel more comfortable chasing. Many matches going down to the wire this season is a testimony to that as well.
MI may look top-heavy with Hayley Matthews, Nat-Sciver Brunt, and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur batting at No. 2, 3, and 4. The small but effective contributions of Amanjot Kaur and Sajeevan Sajana give them that confidence. It’s similar to DC as well. While Meg Lanning, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, and Jess Jonassen have done the heavy lifting for them, they have the likes of Niki Prasad, Sarah Bryce, and Shikha Pandey, among others, to provide that back-up in case the top order has an off day.

MI have an edge when it comes to their bowling, especially in the spin department, with off-spinner Matthews and leg-spinner Amelia Kerr among the top two wicket-takers in the tournament.
On the eve of the final, while both captains didn’t reveal their cards, they agreed that backing their skills and strengths is what matters. MI’s Harmanpreet said that their decision depends on the “conditions” and they “plan accordingly for it,” but the focus is on doing things they are “comfortable about.” “We never thought too much about winning the toss. It’s just going out there and performing,” she added.
Her DC counterpart Lanning assessed: “It’s about what your strengths are and backing that. And throughout the tournament, we’ve done that.” She added: “We’re not too bothered about what we do first. The conditions seem to be similar throughout the match. It’s just about doing whatever we can in that first innings and then backing yourself.”

In the last two finals, DC won the toss both times, but their batters failed to put on a fighting total on the board. In the 2023 final, MI restricted them to 131 before registering a seven wicket win. Last edition, Royal Challengers Bengaluru shot them out for 113 before recording an eight-wicket victory.
Lanning is aware of it, and she admitted that there’s more on the line in the final than a round game. “We’ve just been focusing on what we can do this year and playing to our strengths, backing ourselves. What’s happened in the round games, doesn’t count for anything. It’s about performing tomorrow night,” said Lanning.
MI will be playing their fourth match in six days, while Capitals have had a seven-day break. Both captains had a different take on their schedule. While Harmanpreet felt that it “will play to their advantage” as they “now know the conditions well”, Lanning felt that the break gave them time to “refresh” themselves and the conditions won’t be alien as a lot of their players have played here.