Gujarat Giants and Delhi Capitals played out a thriller in the 17th match of the ongoing Women's Premier League (WPL) season at the BCA Stadium, Kotambi in Vadodara on Tuesday. The match went down to the wire but yet again, it was Sophie Devine whose experience came to the fore as she defended nine runs in the final over to help the Giants win by three runs. This win has helped the Giants jump to second place in the points table.
They can also finish on top of the points table but for that, the UP Warriors will have to beat the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their final league stage clash by a big margin. For now though, the Giants will be happy to have raced ahead in the playoff race and almost sealed their place in the top three.
Meanwhile, RCB are still the favourites to qualify for the final, thanks to their five consecutive wins at the start of the competition. They have lost their last two matches but that hasn't affected their place in the table and given their net run-rate, RCB are unlikely to be toppled.
MI or DC, who will qualify for the playoffs?
Among the other three teams, only two are realistically in the playoff race now: the Delhi Capitals and the Mumbai Indians. UP Warriorz' net run-rate is -0.769, which is pretty low compared to the other two teams in the race. The Capitals would be hurting from the three-run loss against the Giants and now will have to win big against the Warriorz.
At the same time, they will have to hope that MI loses to Gujarat in their final league game on January 30. Delhi Capitals are at an advantage in this case, as they will know the exact scenario before their last game, scheduled on February 1. UP Warriorz will have to play out of their skins to trump the other teams in race but they are still entirely not out of the competition.
As for the Mumbai Indians, they will just have to win their game against the Giants on January 30 to qualify, thanks to their superior net run-rate of 0.146. A decent win will make it impossible for DC and UPW to surpass them on NRR then.
WPL 2026 points table
| Teams | Matches Played | Wins | Losses | Points | NRR |
| Royal Challengers Bengaluru(Q) | 7 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 0.947 |
| Gujarat Giants | 7 | 4 | 3 | 8 | -0.271 |
| Mumbai Indians | 7 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 0.146 |
| Delhi Capitals | 7 | 3 | 4 | 6 | -0.164 |
| UP Warriorz | 6 | 2 | 4 | 6 | -0.769 |
