New Delhi, March 8 (IANS): Fast-bowling all-rounder Tahlia McGrath and left-arm spinner Gouher Sultana have been drafted into the UP Warriorz’ playing eleven as captain Alyssa Healy won the toss and elected to bat first against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Friday.

UP Warriorz have never beaten the Delhi Capitals in WPL’s history and need to win Friday’s match to keep themselves in the race for the playoff spots. A win for the Delhi Capitals, also the table-toppers, will help them progress to the knockouts.

All three matches in Delhi so far have been won by teams batting first. Tahlia and Gouher replace Chamari Athapaththu and Uma Chetry, who played in the side’s 42-run defeat against Mumbai Indians at the same venue on Thursday.

“Played on this wicket last night, hopefully we can learn some lessons from that. We know we have to win the last two fixtures to hopefully feature in the final. We haven't beaten Delhi Capitals yet, tonight's a good opportunity to do just that,” said Alyssa.

On the other hand, Delhi have opted to bring in fast-bowling all-rounder Annabel Sutherland in place of the veteran Marizanne Kapp. “We know that every team in this competition is capable of winning on the night. We want to keep improving and play well, a good challenge for us. It (the pitch) looked reasonably okay, came onto the bat nicely, fast outfield. Good to have an even boundary. Expect it to play well all through the night,” said skipper Meg Lanning.

The last time these two teams met in WPL 2024, Marizanne Kapp’s spell of 3-5, along with fifties from Shafali Verma and captain Meg Lanning took Delhi to a commanding nine-wicket win at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. The pitch for Friday’s game is the centre wicket and the one on which UP Warriorz played against Mumbai Indians on Thursday.

Playing XIs

Delhi Capitals: Meg Lanning (captain), Shafali Verma, Alice Capsey, Jemimah Rodrigues, Annabel Sutherland, Jess Jonassen, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Taniyaa Bhatia (wicketkeeper), Shikha Pandey and Titas Sadhu

UP Warriorz: Alyssa Healy (captain & wicketkeeper), Kiran Navgire, Tahlia McGrath, Grace Harris, Shweta Sehrawat, Deepti Sharma, Poonam Khemnar, Sophie Ecclestone, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Gouher Sultana and Saima Thakor.