WPL 2026: Nayar, Lanning reflect on UPW's disappointing campaign
What's the story
After a disappointing exit from the Women's Premier League (WPL) 2026, UP Warriorz's head coach Abhishek Nayar and captain Meg Lanning have opened up about their team's shortcomings. The duo reflected on what went wrong for the team in a season where they managed to win only two out of eight matches. Despite their dismal performance, UPW was still mathematically in contention for the Eliminator until their last league game against Delhi Capitals.
Injury woes
Absence of key players impacted UPW's campaign
Nayar stressed that the absence of key players like Phoebe Litchfield had a major impact on their campaign. He said, "We got some momentum when we won those two games [in Navi Mumbai]. Then we came to Baroda and lost Phoebe [Litchfield] after that." The coach added it was tough to replace someone who had scored almost 250 runs by then in the season.
Consistency concerns
'We've had patches of games'
Lanning echoed Nayar's sentiments, saying UPW has struggled with consistency throughout the season. She said, "We've had patches of games where we have played well and put the opposition under pressure but sort of given it back to them easily." The captain stressed that maintaining pressure on opponents for longer periods is crucial in T20 cricket.
Strategy shifts
Nayar defends Deepti Sharma's opening slot
The opening slot was another area of concern for UPW, with Kiran Navgire failing to replicate her domestic form in WPL 2026. The team tried three different opening pairs during the season. Nayar admitted that these decisions weren't always right but were made with a strategic mindset to win games. He said, "It wasn't like no one's scoring runs, so send [Deepti to open]. If we would have had Phoebe, maybe she [Deepti] wouldn't have opened."
Player performance
Nayar addresses Shweta Sehrawat's poor run
Nayar also addressed Shweta Sehrawat's disappointing performance in WPL 2026. He had assigned her a middle-order role and backed her to be the wicketkeeper, despite her being unfamiliar with it before this season. However, she only managed to score 46 runs at a strike rate of 97.87 in six innings during the tournament. This led to her replacement by Shipra Giri, a wicketkeeper from Railways in domestic cricket.