She took 3 for 28, then scored an unbeaten 49 in the chase in the last game.
Defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) have left out the leading wicket-taker of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) history, Amelia Kerr, from their playing XI for the DC vs MI WPL 2026 clash on Tuesday, January 20. Kerr was replaced by Shabnim Ismail in the MI playing XI tonight.
MI playing XI will be without Amelia Kerr, who played exceptionally well in the last game and is one of the top wicket-takers this season. She took 3 for 28 and then scored an unbeaten 49 in the chase. With how well Carey has been playing, it must be tough for MI to choose their overseas players. Matthews, Ismail, and now Kerr have all taken turns on the bench.
“The last two games, we were not at our best, so hopefully we come in with better cricket today. We have four changes.” Harmanpreet Kaur said at the toss.
While Amelia Kerr is among the leading wicket-takers in WPL 2026, her performance with the bat has been inconsistent, with 77 runs in 10 previous innings at a modest strike rate of 74.03.
With Nicola Carey (seven wickets at 8.68 economy and 137 runs at 145.74 SR) doing an exceptional job as an all-rounder to boost her case for the fourth overseas spot in the MI playing XI, the defending champions had a tough decision to make, and they opted to drop Amelia Kerr. The other three overseas players who have featured in the playing XI are Nat Sciver Brunt, Shabnim Ismail and Hayley Matthews. If MI goes far, it will be interesting to see who they prefer to play in later rounds.
This led skipper Harmanpreet Kaur to make adjustments. In other changes, Vaishnavi Sharma makes her debut as a left-arm spinner, bringing her international experience, including a five-wicket T20I haul against Sri Lanka at an economy rate of 6.26.
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The DC vs MI match holds a huge significance for both teams. MI are currently placed second on the points table, but UP Warriorz and Gujarat Giants are level with them on points, both having four after five matches. They will want to break away from the pack today, but the Capitals, sitting at the bottom of the table and in dire need of a win to keep themselves alive in the tournament, have lost three games out of four.
The two teams have met once this season, in the third match. Sciver-Brunt and Harmanpreet scored fifties in a strong performance while the Capitals fell to 33 for 4 in their chase, losing by 50 runs. The MI duo will be key to their chances today as well.
Delhi Capitals: Shafali Verma, Lizelle Lee(w), Laura Wolvaardt, Jemimah Rodrigues(c), Marizanne Kapp, Deeya Yadav, Niki Prasad, Sneh Rana, Lucy Hamilton, Shree Charani, Nandni Sharma
Mumbai Indians: Hayley Matthews, Sajeevan Sajana, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Rahila Firdous(w), Nicola Carey, Amanjot Kaur, Poonam Khemnar, Sanskriti Gupta, Shabnim Ismail, Vaishnavi Sharma
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