Delhi Capitals will hope to be second time lucky when they take on an unpredictable Royal Challengers Bangalore in the title clash of the Women’s Premier League 2024. Having missed out on the title in WPL’s inaugural edition last year, losing by seven wickets to Mumbai Indians in the final, the Meg Lanning-led DC will hope to win the tournament this time around at their home – Arun Jaitley Stadium in the national capital.

Delhi Capitals finished on top of the points table for the second consecutive time to secure direct qualification to the WPL final, after experiencing a near-perfect campaign this season. The Delhi franchise won six and lost two in their eight league stage matches.

Heading into the final against the RCB, the DC will definitely start as the overwhelming favourites as they haven’t yet gone down to Smriti Mandhana’s outfit in their four meetings. However, past results will hardly hold any significance when the sides walk out for the big final on Sunday.

Skipper Lanning has led the Capitals from the front, amassing 308 runs from eight innings, while South African all-rounder Marizanne Kapp and Australian left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen are the highest wicket-takers for the side with 11 scalps each.

In the final, Lanning will be expected to once again give a sound opening start in the company of the young Shafali Verma, who has been in top form. Jemimah Rodrigues has also been in good form, but the DC franchise will expect handy contributions from the likes of all-rounders Alice Capsey and Kapp. DC’s bowling has been spearheaded by Jonassen with the likes of Shikha Pandey and Kapp playing the perfect supporting role to the Australian. Left-arm spinner Radha Yadav has also been among the wickets, picking 10 scalps so far.

On the other hand, RCB finished third in the league phase after an inconsistent run that fetched them eight points from as many games. RCB, however came out all guns blazing in Friday’s eliminator when they knocked defending champions MI by five runs in Delhi.

RCB’s Ellyse Perry (312) is the highest scorer of the tournament so far, leading Lanning by mere four runs, and the Australian has been impressive with the ball, scalping seven wickets. In fact, it was Perry’s all-round contribution in the crucial eliminator that paved RCB’s road to the final. Perry first scored a vital 50-ball 66 and then returned with figures of 1/29 to help RCB’s cause.

Besides Perry’s all-round show, RCB will hope for more contributions from the likes of skipper Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Devine, Richa Ghosh and Sophie Molineux with the bat, and Renuka Singh, Shreyanka Patil and Georgia Wareham with the ball, if they are to win the title on Sunday.

Whoever wins the crown on Sunday, it will be the first for both the franchises, both in men’s and women’s cricket.