NEW DELHI: Despite concerns over inconsistent returns from some of their top-order batters, Delhi Capitals remain firmly in control of their playoff destiny as they head into their final league match of the Women's Premier League against UP Warriorz in Vadodara on Sunday.

A victory for Delhi Capitals would seal a third-place finish with eight points, setting up an Eliminator clash against Gujarat Giants and, in the process, ending defending champions Mumbai Indians' hopes of progressing further.

However, an upset win for bottom-placed UP Warriorz would throw the playoff race wide open. In that scenario, Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals and UP Warriorz would all finish level on six points, leaving net run rate (NRR) to determine who advances to the Eliminator to face Gujarat Giants for a spot in the final.

At present, UP Warriorz are at a disadvantage with the poorest NRR of minus 1.146, while Delhi Capitals stand at minus 0.164. Mumbai Indians hold the edge among the three with a positive NRR of 0.059.

Meanwhile, Royal Challengers Bengaluru have already secured a direct entry into the final after topping the five-team standings, having registered six wins from their eight league matches.

DC's top-order batters have not scored too many runs this season, with South African Lizelle Lee being the most prolific for them with 230 runs from seven matches. South African star Laura Wolvaardt has made 194 from seven games, much below expectations.

Shafali Verma has been inconsistent with 179 runs from seven matches and DC would hope for a big contribution from the Indian opener in the crunch match.

New captain Jemimah Rodrigues has contributed even less with 132 runs from seven matches, and a big knock from her could lift the team. Her highest has been a 51 not out so far.

In the bowling front also, DC's foreign recruits have been below-par with the experienced South African Marizanne Kapp and West Indian Chinelle Henry struggling with just seven and six wickets respectively. It is the same scenario for India bowlers Sneh Rana and Minnu Mani also.

In fact, DC's wicket-taking duties this season have been mainly shouldered by two youngsters -- uncapped pacer Nandani Sharma (14 wickets from 7 matches) and India left-arm spinner Shree Charani (12 wickets from 7 matches).

The Warriorz, on the other hand, are coming in after two consecutive losses, the latest being the 8-wicket thrashing at the hands of RCB on Friday. Scoring a below par 143 for 8 and then losing the match in just 13.1 overs must have dented their confidence, but they will need to quickly regroup themselves.

Except for the Australian duo of captain Meg Lanning (248 from 7 matches) and Phoebe Litchfield (243 from 6 matches), all other batters have failed to perform this season. Litchfield's absence due to injury will also hurt them.

Their bowling department also failed to impress with the likes of England's Sophie Ecclestone (6 wickets from 7 matches) and India's Deepti Sharma (5 from 7 matches) producing below-par performances. The star duo needs to bring out something special on Sunday if the Warriorz want a big win for a chance to sneak into the Eliminator.

Teams (from):

Delhi Capitals: Jemimah Rodrigues (c), Taniya Bhatia, Chinelle Henry, Lizelle Lee, Niki Prasad, Shafali Verma, Laura Wolvaardt, Lucy Hamilton, Marizanne Kapp, Alana King, Sneh Rana, Pragati Singh, Minnu Mani, Nandani Sharma, Shree Charani, Eddla Srujana.

UP Warriorz: Meg Lanning (c), Harleen Deol, Shipra Giri, Amy Jones, Kiran Navgire, Pratika Rawal, Simran Shaikh, Gongadi Trisha, Deandra Dottin, Charli Knott, Shikha Pandey, Shweta Sehrawat, Deepti Sharma, Asha Sobhana, Chloe Tryon, Sophie Ecclestone, Kranti Gaud, Suman Meena.

Match Starts at 7:30pm.

(With PTI Inputs)