Sixteen-year-old Deeya Yadav became the youngest player in Women’s Premier League history after Delhi Capitals captain Jemimah Rodrigues confirmed she would replace Minnu Mani in DC’s playing XI for their crucial clash against Mumbai Indians in Vadodara. Delhi Capitals won the toss and elected to field first.
The Haryana-based batter, bought by Delhi Capitals at her base price of Rs 10 lakh, first gained attention during the 2023 U-15 One-Day Trophy, scoring 578 runs at an average of 96.33, including three centuries and an unbeaten 213 against Tripura. Inspired by the 2017 Women’s World Cup final, Deeya was trained by her father, Rakesh Yadav, a former Delhi U-19 cricketer, in Pune.
Mumbai Indians also handed a WPL debut to left-arm spinner Vaishnavi Sharma, who replaces injured wicketkeeper-batter G Kamalini. Vaishnavi, part of India’s ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup 2025-winning squad, recently debuted in senior international cricket during the T20I series against Sri Lanka and has earned a call-up for India’s upcoming ODI tour of Australia.
Delhi Capitals XI:Shafali Verma, Lizelle Lee (wk), Jemimah Rodrigues (c), Laura Wolvaardt, Marizanne Kapp, Niki Prasad, Deeya Yadav, Sneh Rana, Lucy Hamilton, Shree Charani, Nandni SharmaMumbai Indians XI:Rahila Firdous (wk), Haylel Matthews, S Sajana, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Nicola Carey, Amanjot Kaur, Poonam Khemnar, Sanskriti Gupta, Shabnim Ismail, Vaishnavi Sharma
