With three back-to-back thrillers over the past weekend (March 8-10), action is well and truly heating up in the Women's Premier League 2024. UP Warriorz, Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals pulled off stunning victories in games that went right down to the wire at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. (Full Coverage | Schedule And Points Table)
We are 17 matches into the tournament, and three more group-stage clashes remain before the play-offs begin. Gujarat Giants face the Warriorz on Monday (March 11), Mumbai take on the Royal Challengers Bangalore the following evening and Delhi are up against Gujarat in the last league phase match-up. The table-toppers will advance straight to the final, which will be played on Sunday, March 17 in Delhi.
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Let us analyse each team's status/chances of qualification for the playoffs, which will begin with the Eliminator in Delhi on Friday.
Mumbai Indians
With their come-from-behind victory over Gujarat Giants, the Harmanpreet Kaur-led Mumbai Indians have confirmed their spot in the playoffs. MI have 10 points from seven games and are currently in second place behind Delhi Capitals. Their last group-stage fixture is against Royal Challengers Bangalore and they will be eyeing a table-top finish to qualify for the final.
Delhi Capitals
After an utterly dramatic final over, Delhi Capitals edged out Bangalore by a solitary run in match 17 to seal their playoffs berth. Meg Lanning and Co are now perched on top of the standings with 10 points from seven matches (superior net run rate to Mumbai). Their final league-stage clash is against Gujarat Giants and a big win will guarantee their direct passage to the title clash.
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Royal Challengers Bangalore
Despite their heartbreaking loss to Delhi on Sunday, Royal Challengers Bangalore are still in contention for a playoff spot. They are currently in third position with six points from seven games, ahead of UP Warriorz (worse net run rate).
Smriti Mandhana's team need to beat Mumbai in their last group match and hope Gujarat Giants defeat the Warriorz. If Gujarat lose to UP, it will boil down to net run rate. RCB possess an NRR of 0.027 as of now, against UPW's -0.365.
UP Warriorz
The Warriorz are tied on points with RCB, and hence find themselves needing more than just a win in their last league match against Gujarat to qualify. If they do win, UP also need Bangalore to lose to Mumbai so as to capture the third spot. Neither UP nor Bangalore can qualify for the final directly.
Gujarat Giants
Beth Mooney's Gujarat Giants have endured a dismal run in WPL 2024 so far and with just two points from six games, are on the verge of elimination. Mathematically, however, they still stand a chance to make the playoffs cut.
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Firstly, Gujarat must win their last two league games against UP Warriorz and Delhi Capitals. Next, they need MI to defeat RCB, so that there is a three-way tie between them, UPW and RCB. In such a scenario, the team with the higher NRR will progress. But given their spate of losses, GG possess a poor NRR of -1.111, and need two massive wins to overtake the net run rate of RCB and UPW both.
