'I look foolish': Nayar's honest admission UP Warriorz's second loss
13 Jan 2026

Abhishek Nayar, the head coach of UP Warriorz (UPW), has admitted that his decision to send Harleen Deol to open against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) was a mistake.

Kiran Navgire, who opened in their first match, was pushed down to No. 4 in the batting order.

Nayar took full responsibility for the decision after UPW lost their second consecutive match in the 2026 Women's Premier League (WPL).

Nayar explains his decision-making process
Tactical shift

Nayar explained his decision by saying, "We felt that with the moving ball at that point, Harleen (Deol) could add a bit of value in the powerplay."

"It (the shuffle in the batting position) didn't work out. I felt it turned out to be the wrong decision. I take complete responsibility for it," he told reporters after the match.

"I thought those match-ups for Kiran Navgire in the middle would work. [But they] didn't work today. So I look foolish."

UPW's near miss against Gujarat Giants
Close call

In their last match against Gujarat Giants, UPW came close to chasing down a massive target of 208 runs.

Phoebe Litchfield's 78 and lower-order contributions brought them within 10 runs of victory.

One such contribution came from Shweta Sehrawat who scored a quickfire 25 off just 17 balls with three sixes and a four.

Sehrawat's transition to middle-order batting
Role change

Sehrawat, a natural top-order batter, has been batting in the middle order in domestic cricket to prepare for her role with UPW.

She had impressive strike rates of 144.57 and 157.89 in the Senior Women's T20 Trophy and Women's Under-23 T20 Trophy respectively.

After joining UPW camp, she was also given an additional responsibility - wicketkeeping duties.

Nayar's high expectations from Sehrawat
Future prospects

Nayar has high hopes for Sehrawat as a potential candidate for the Indian women's team.

He said, "In 15 days of practice, she has been keeping to Sophie Ecclestone, Deepti Sharma and Asha [Sobhana]. So with a little more keeping under her belt, I really feel she can be a great prospect for the Indian women's team."

Nayar on UPW's batting order against RCB
Match strategy

Speaking about the batting order against RCB, Nayar said, "In today's game, you can't talk too much about the batting order because we lost wickets in heaps."

He emphasized that everyone had their roles clear but when so many wickets fall, what role? You just have to go out and play.

Despite the loss of early wickets, he defended his decision saying if Deol had scored 100 runs, they'd be having a different conversation.