Who is Deeya Yadav? WPL's youngest-ever debutant, rated highly by Delhi Capitals captain Jemimah Rodrigues

Deeya Yadav became the youngest-ever player to make her debut in the history of Women's Premier League (WPL) on Tuesday when Delhi Capitals handed her the cap against Mumbai Indians at the BCA Stadium in Vadodara. Deeya replaced Minnu Mani in the Delhi Capitals playing XI.

Deeya made her debut at 16 years and 103 days. The previous record was held by Mumbai Indians' G Kamalini, who had made her WPL debut last year at the age of 16 years and 213 days.

Youngest players to make WPL debut

All you need to know about Deeya Yadav

The teenager from Haryana got into the limelight after her fearless approach in the domestic circuit for Haryana. Having modelled her game on her idol Shafali Verma, Deeya impressed the scouts with her 298 runs in eight matches in the 2025-26 domestic T20 trophy, at a strike rate of 128.

A big-hitting batter, Deeya continued her form in the inter-zonal T20s as she played a crucial role in powering North Zone to the summit clash. Her strike rate touched 150 during the tournament.

As a result, Deeya was roped in by Delhi Capitals for ₹10 lakh during the WPL auction last year. Because her playing style, Deeya is often dubbed as ‘Choti Shafali’. Even Delhi Capitals skipper Jemimah Rodrigues couldn't hold back her excitement during the coin toss.

“Deeya Yadav comes in. She’s 16, but she can really smash the ball out of the park. That’s all I’ll say," Jemimah said after opting bowl first. Meanwhile, Deeya need not come out to bat as Jemimah led from the front to power her team to a seven-wicket win for their second win.

Delhi Capitals vs Mumbai Indians playing XIs

Delhi Capitals: Shafali Verma, Lizelle Lee(w), Laura Wolvaardt, Jemimah Rodrigues(c), Deeya Yadav, Marizanne Kapp, Lucy Hamilton, Niki Prasad, Sneh Rana, Shree Charani, Nandni Sharma

Mumbai Indians: Hayley Matthews, Sajeevan Sajana, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Rahila Firdous(w), Nicola Carey, Amanjot Kaur, Poonam Khemnar, Sanskriti Gupta, Shabnim Ismail, Vaishnavi Sharma