Meg Lanning acknowledges UPW’s shortcomings following defeat to RCB that more or less ends their campaign this year.
When Grace Harris’ wicket fell, there was a subdued lack of jubilation, which said it all. UP Warriorz’s slim chances of qualifying for the WPL 2026 playoffs were severely damaged after their devastating eight-wicket loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore in Vadodara. UPW has been left gazing at the bottom of the points table, with their limited chances of qualifying now hanging by a thread, while RCB has advanced straight to the finals.
UPW’s captain, Meg Lanning, blamed the team’s poor performance this season on a lack of consistency.
“We’ve played some good cricket in patches but we haven’t been consistent enough,” the Australian said after the team’s fifth defeat in seven league games. “Every time we’ve got some momentum with the bat and built a partnership we’ve sort of lost that and then lost some wickets in clumps as well. We’ve put some good starts together but haven’t been able to finish off and that’s been quite costly.”
Warriorz’s season has definitely been a rollercoaster with some moments of brilliance. Their chances of making the playoffs were resurrected after three straight losses with two spectacular victories to end the Navi Mumbai leg. However, those triumphs were soon eclipsed by two more crushing defeats after arriving in Vadodara. Lanning emphasised the narrow differences between teams that are thriving and those who are having difficulty.
“We’ve seen teams that have been successful through this tournament put on big partnerships and really not give the other team a sniff. Unfortunately we haven’t been able to do that. It’s a similar story with the ball: we’ve hit some good areas sometimes but certainly not as consistent as we would have liked. It’s sort of been a tournament of some good stuff but just not enough of it.”