UP Warriorz stood eliminated from the 2025 edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) after Gujarat Giants’ thrilling win against the Delhi Capitals. However, the Warriorz have an opportunity to become the party spoilers in their final home game in Lucknow for the RCB.
It’s the International Women’s Day and to celebrate the same, the UP Warriorz will be doning the pink kits in what will be their final league stage match in the ongoing WPL. It will be also their last match of the home leg in Lucknow and would want to end a disappointing campaign on a high. The Warriorz were eliminated from the playoffs race following Friday night’s result with Gujarat Giants reaching eight points. The result also put the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in a must-win zone after a horrendous home leg featuring four losses.
The Indian contingent, especially with the bat has been disappointing for the Warriorz with the likes of Grace Harris, now Georgia Voll, Chinelle Henry and even Sophie Ecclestone having to chip in. Uma Chetry, Vrinda Dinesh and Kiran Navgire have shown promise but there were not enough returns for them to support the overseas stars and even the captain Deepti Sharma wasn’t able to chip-in with meaty contributions.
RCB, on the other hand, need their captain Smriti Mandhana to fire. The overdependence on Ellyse Perry has shown cracks in the line-up for RCB, who are evidently missing a few of their key players. Sneh Rana and Kim Garth, among replacements have done well, but RCB need their big guns to fire. RCB need to win two matches in a row now to challenge the Giants and the Mumbai Indians for a spot in the playoffs. Hence, the clash against the UP Warriorz couldn’t have come at a better time for the defending champions before finishing their league stage at the CCI against Mumbai.
My Dream11 team for WPL 2025 Match 18, UPW vs RCB
Georgia Voll, Smriti Mandhana, Ellyse Perry (vc), Grace Harris, Richa Ghosh (vc), Raghvi Bist, Chinelle Henry, Sophie Ecclestone, Kranti Goud, Sneh Rana, Kim Garth
Probable Playing XIs
UP Warriorz: Kiran Navgire, Grace Harris, Georgia Voll, Vrinda Dinesh, Deepti Sharma (c), Shweta Sehrawat, Chinelle Henry, Uma Chetry (wk), Sophie Ecclestone, Kranti Goud, Gouher Sultana/Saima Thakor
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Smriti Mandhana (c), Danielle Wyatt-Hodge, Ellyse Perry, Raghvi Bist/S Meghana, Kanika Ahuja, Richa Ghosh (wk), Georgia Wareham, Kim Garth, Sneh Rana, Renuka Singh Thakur, Ekta Bisht/Prema Rawat
