WPL 2026 final - A tactical preview

Delhi Capitals have often bossed the league stage, finishing on top three seasons in a row - only to stumble when it mattered the most. This time, they took the harder road, winning Tuesday's eliminator against Gujarat Giants, which led them to a fourth straight final, and in all three previous seasons, the winner of the Eliminator went on to win the WPL. So can DC break the jinx this time against a well-balanced RCB side?

RCB, meanwhile, have had a rollercoaster run. Five straight league wins were followed by back-to-back losses to MI and DC, before a must-win victory over UPW sealed their final berth. Nadine de Klerk's middle-overs bowling and Richa Ghosh's timely runs repeatedly pulled them out of trouble, while Grace Harris dominated UPW. The standout positive, though, has been Lauren Bell's disciplined, variation-filled powerplay bowling.

DC has a slight advantage against RCB, winning six out of nine head-to-head games. At this venue, both sides have won one game against each other. In this season, each of DC's five wins have come while chasing a target, whereas RCB won four while chasing, and two games while defending totals.

Both teams have a good record at Vadodara. RCB won four of their six games here, while DC have a stellar record at the venue, winning six of their eight games. In this season, RCB got two wins and two losses, whereas the Capitals turned their fortunes in the Vadodara leg winning four of their five games.

Kotambi Stadium has offered far more help to spinners than DY Patil. While they took 49 wickets in 11 games in the first leg at an average of 37.14 and conceded at an economy of 9.37, those numbers have improved sharply in Vadodara - spinners took 55 wickets in 10 games at an average of 23.7, economy down to 7.75, and strike rate improving to 18.3 from 23.7 in Navi Mumbai. Even so, seamers have led the way for both sides, with Nandani Sharma's 16 wickets for DC and Nadine de Klerk's 15 for RCB.

The average first-innings score at Vadodara in WPL 2026 is 157 runs across ten matches, and the average 1st innings score in wins is 174 runs, with wins evenly split between teams batting first and chasing. Jemimah Rodrigues has dominated the toss, winning eight of nine, while Smriti Mandhana has won five of eight. Despite the captains' uncertainty, the results in Vadodara suggest clear par scores: only once has a 160-plus target been chased successfully (from five attempts), while targets under 160 have been chased comfortably on four out of five occasions.

Pacers have dominated the powerplay at this venue, leading all bowling metrics so far, 29 wickets at an average of 23.32 and conceded at just 6.41. They have a greater impact in the first innings (16 wkts, Avg: 20.75, ER: 6.01) than the second (13 wkts, Avg: 26.46, ER: 6.85). RCB pacers have taken 36 wickets at 18.5 average, took wickets every 15.6 balls and conceded at 7.07 whereas the DC seamers have taken 38 wickets this season (Avg: 20.55, ER: 7.63). Both finalists heavily depend on their seamers to get going early in powerplay, in which both teams' pacers took 13 wickets each, but RCB's comes with a better average (17.4) and they have conceded (5.8) less than a ball as compared to DC's (Avg: 24.07, ER: 6.05).

While Marizanne Kapp has been the best bowler in powerplay this season, in which she took 7 wickets at an average of 20.7 and conceded at just 5.37, two of the RCB new ball pacers, Lauren Bell and Sayali Satghare, are in the top five powerplay wicket takers this season. Both took six wickets each and conceded at 5.47 and 7.6 respectively. Of the 19 bowlers who have bowled at least five or more overs in the powerplay phase, Kapp has the third-best economy rate after Ismail (5.2) and Ecclestone (5.2), followed by Bell (5.47) this season.

In this season, only RCB and DC have used one opening pair. Whereas MI (4), UPW (3), and GG (2) used more than one opening pair. Only these two pairs of teams have aggregated 300-plus runs for the opening wicket in this WPL - Mandhana and Harris for RCB (382 runs at 47.9) and Shafali and Lee for DC (361 runs at 40.11). RCB openers have been involved in two century stands (both against UPW), and the DC opening pair have had three 50-plus stands this season.

DC and RCB, both are the second and third-best scoring sides in powerplay after the Gujarat Giants this season. Both teams' average powerplay scores are around 50 runs, and they lost two wickets on average in this phase. Shafali is the highest run getter in powerplay, where she is striking at 131.0 and has an average of 43.25. Most of her runs (72%) have come in this phase this season. Harris has struck at the rate of 172. Lee follows closely with 167 runs and has a SR of 133.6 in the powerplay (1-6 overs) phase.

DC opener Shafali Verma boasts outstanding numbers against RCB, scoring 359 runs in nine innings at an average of 44.87 and a strike rate of 167, including four half-centuries - two of them in her last three outings. Meanwhile, RCB skipper Smriti Mandhana has also thrived against DC, amassing 376 runs at an average of 41.8 with four fifties.

Grace Harris has been dismissed by Marizanne Kapp in both matches in 13 balls when the two sides met this season. She has kept Mandhana quiet as well. Overall, Kapp dismissed Harris seven times and Mandhana six times in all T20 cricket (where BBB data is available). So Kapp will be a valuable asset for DC against RCB openers in the powerplay.

Bell bagged 3 for 26 when RCB met DC for the first time this season at the DY Patil Stadium. She dismissed DC's top order batters (Shafali, Lee, Wolvaardt) once each this season. Overall, she has the upper hand against Shafali in T20s so far - 74 off 71, two dismissals, SR: 104.22, and against DC's captain Jemimah Rodrigues, dismissing her three times in 44 balls.

Spinners have been less effective than seamers this season, with identical wicket tallies in both innings - 52 wickets each - averaging 30.92 in the first innings and 29.15 in the second. The trend continues in Vadodara, where spinners have taken 27 wickets in the first innings (Avg: 23.7, ER: 7.71) and 28 in the second (Avg: 23.71, ER: 7.79). However, they've been marginally more effective during the middle overs (7-15) in second-innings games at this venue.

Between overs 7 and 15, RCB have been the second-worst bowling side this season. Their spinners concede 7.3 an over and strike only every 23 balls. In contrast, Delhi Capitals' middle-overs batting against spin has been steady but unspectacular, scoring at 6.99 an over with an average of 26.07.

RCB spinner Linsey Smith has an excellent matchup against several DC batters - dismissing Wolvaardt three times in 41 balls, Kapp four times in 50 balls, and Rodrigues three times in just 16 balls - though Lizzelle Lee has countered her well (106 off 76, one dismissal, SR: 139.5). With Georgia Voll yet to make a mark this season (91 runs at 22.75 from five games), RCB could consider altering their combination to bring Smith back into the XI to exploit these matchups against DC's heavy right-handed top order as DC's right hand-batters faced 95.36 percentage of the total number of balls (1013).

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