Mumbai Indians bossed the points table right from the first game but Delhi won their last two matches with heavy margins to end the league stage as table toppers on the basis of better net run rate. Warriorz and Mumbai will be up against each other in Eliminator on Friday for a place in the final.
Scorecard | As it happened
After opting to bowl, Delhi once again dished out a superb bowling effort to restrict Warriorz to 138/6. Tahlia McGrath led Warriorz’s fightback with her unbeaten knock of 58 off 32 balls to guide her team to a fighting total.
Skipper Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma got Delhi off to a rollicking start and added 56 runs in just 4.5 overs. Delhi seemed to have lost the momentum when Shabnim Ismail dismissed Jemimah Rodrigues and Lanning in the same over.
But it was then Alice Capsey who played a gem of a knock of 34 runs and put on 60 crucial runs with Marizanne Kapp to take Delhi near the finish line. Kapp remained unbeaten on 34 to take Delhi home in 17.5 overs.
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MI had defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by four wickets earlier in the day, leaving DC with the task of not only winning against UPW but also maintaining a better run-rate to directly book their final spot.
UPW tried to tighten the screws but Capsey produced three boundaries in four balls off Ecclestone to keep DC in the hunt.
Parshavi Chopra was then deposited over the fence before Capsey slog swept Deepti Sharma past the mid-wicket area for another boundary as DC brought up their 100 in 12 overs.
Ecclestone managed to sent back Capsey after two balls, while a mix-up cost Jess Jonassen’s wicket but Kapp kept her cool to hit the winning runs.
Earlier, McGrath blasted eight boundaries and two sixes after skipper Alyssa Healy (36 off 34) provided the platform to push UP Warriorz’s total closer to the 140-mark.
Capsey scalped three quick wickets conceding just seven runs in her first three overs but McGrath changed her bowling figures with a 19-run blitz in the final over.
For DC, Radha Yadav (2/28) and Jess Jonassen (1/24) were the other wicket takers.
Shweta Sehrawat provided UPW a flying start as she hit four boundaries during her 12-ball 19 before being dismissed in the fifth over.
Healy then took over, even as new batter Simran Shaikh struggled to find the gaps.
Healy cracked a six off Radha in the eighth over, before using her feet against Shikha Pandey for a boundary but she lacked rhythm.
Looking to break the shackles, Healy was stumped in the 10th over when she danced down to Capsey.
The Delhi bowlers kept a good line and length and soon Simran’s struggle was over when she was caught by Rodrigues.
McGrath then slowly built her innings but kept losing partners from the other end.
She smashed three boundaries as the 14th over yielded 14 runs.
Jess Jonassen then had Kiran Navgire stumped, while Capsey deceived Deepti Sharma with a flighted delivery as Tania Bhatia took off the bails in a flash.
Bhatia was kept busy as next it was the turn of Sophie Ecclestone, who too was stumped after she tried to use her feet as UPW slipped to 105 for six in 18 overs.
McGrath clobbered Jonassen for a four and six in the last two balls of the 19th over before repeating the treatment to Capsey, who conceded two fours and a six as UPW finished things on a high.
(With PTI Inputs)