UP Women Vs MI Women Preview: Playing XIs, Pitch Report And Match Prediction

Two days after a riveting contest, UP Warriorz and Mumbai Indians clash again in the Women’s Premier League 2026 in Navi Mumbai on Saturday, January 17. The Warriorz, led by Aussie great Meg Lanning, pulled

off a sensational victory over the defending champions after looking down and out earlier in the competition.

Having faced defeats in their three previous matches, the Warriorz entered the bout with MI as second favourites. But Lanning & co upstaged the titleholders with their first all-round display of the season. It’s the bowlers who began Warriorz’s revival, with the trio of Shikha Pandey (1/25), Deepti Sharma (1/31) and Sophie Ecclestone (1/26) tightening screws against a power-packed MI batting line-up. Only English all-rounder Nat Sciver-Brunt (65) managed to break free and play a knock of substance for the reigning champions.

Set a target of 162, the Warriorz found a match-winner in the form of India’s young middle-order star Harleen Deol. Deol, who had been shockingly retired out in the previous match against the Delhi Capitals, reminded the team management of her hitting abilities. The right-hand batter hammered an unbeaten 64 off 39 deliveries, including 12 fours, to take her team home.

Pitch Report

The pitch in Navi Mumbai has been good for batting throughout the competition. It should be no different for the UP-MI contest. However, this being an afternoon game, one can expect the bowlers to have more of a say with the strip playing slightly dry. Expect spinners and seamers who deploy their cutters and slower ones to make it tricky for the batting.

Probable Playing XIs

UP Warriorz: Kiran Navgire, Meg Lanning (c), Phoebe Litchfield, Harleen Deol, Shweta Sehrawat (wk), Chloe Tryon, Deepti Sharma, Sophie Ecclestone, Asha Sobhana Joy, Shikha Pandey, Kranti Gaud

Mumbai Indians: Gunalan Kamalini (wk), Amelia Kerr, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Amanjot Kaur, Nicola Carey, Sajeevan Sajana, Sanskriti Gupta, Poonam Khemnar, Shabnim Ismail, Triveni Vasistha

Match Prediction

The standards they’ve set for themselves, MI wouldn’t be taking the loss to the Warriorz lightly. They’ll be raring to avenge their defeat with a much-improved display. Harmanpreet Kaur’s team shall still start as slight favourites for this rivalry, given their all-round depth across departments.

UP-W vs MI-W Full Squads

UP Warriorz: Meg Lanning (c), Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, Phoebe Litchfield, Asha Sobhana, Sophie Ecclestone, Deandra Dottin, Kiran Navgire, Kranti Gaud, Shweta Sehrawat, Harleen Deol, Chloe Tryon, Suman Meena, Simran Shaikh, G Trisha, Pratika Rawal

Mumbai Indians: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Amelia Kerr, Hayley Matthews, Amanjot Kaur, Sajeevan Sajana, Shabnim Ismail, Gunalan Kullkarni, Nicola Carey, Sanskriti Gupta, Rahil Firdous, Poonam Khemnar, Triveni Vasistha, Nalla Reddy, Saika Ishaque, Milly Illingworth