A poster was doing the rounds recently announcing the fixture of India women's upcoming tour of Australia. The headline read 'Australia take on the World Champs'

It made for unusual reading, because world champions don't usually tour Australia. They stay there. Over the last decade and more, only six ODIs have been played by a touring world champion side, and no T20Is, in Australia. In a way, primarily, it was a side commentary of Australia's dominance in women's cricket in that period - and more. Their team, and their players, have been the benchmark-setters of modern women's cricket.

Naturally, Australia's players have reigned supreme even in the Women's Premier League since its inaugural season. Four of the top-10 run-getters, and two of the top-10 wicket-takers of the competition are from Australia. But the 2026 season of WPL has painted a different picture. In every sense of the way, there is an absence of Australian dominance in the league.

The star players of the most dominant side in world cricket, who had for the first three seasons of the tournament carried the bulk of the overseas weight, haven't quite hogged the spotlight for most part of the Navi Mumbai leg of WPL 2026. On paper, they still exist as the strongest overseas representation, with 13 of the 29 overseas slots taken up by them. Yet, the Australians, for once haven't dictated the terms of the competition this year.

It begins with their absence. Some of their biggest names, who had previously featured in the competition - Alyssa Healy, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Sophie Molineux, Jess Jonnasen - don't feature this time. Georgia Voll, Alana King and Kim Garth haven't got a chance to play. Meg Lanning looked scratchy in the initial two games, and Beth Mooney and Georgia Wareham are yet to get going at their best.

Much weight of the Australian presence this season has been shouldered by Nicola Carey, the central contract-rejecting debutant who has made use of every use opportunity in the absence of the injured Hayley Matthews and the unwell Nat Sciver-Brunt, to keep her place in the Mumbai Indians side and contribute heavily. To her support have come Ash Gardner, Phoebe Litchfield and Grace Harris with their occasional blitz.

So to see Lanning and Litchfield dictate terms in the middle for more than 75 balls at a stretch was long due.

There hasn't been much of an overlap in the international careers of the retired Australian legend and the promising young batter, who had featured together in only 3 ODIs previously. But on Saturday afternoon, with their distinct style of play, they took charge of UP Warriorz innings.

Lanning, who had taken some time to get going, began to cut loose against Nicola Carey in the fifth over, pulling her through square leg and cutting her for a boundary towards the square on the offside. The pulls and swipes on the legside were plenty for Lanning. She was not only punishing the short balls, but even the ones that were pitched on good lengths.

As she wielded her mastery against Sanskriti Gupta, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Hayley Mathews and Amanjot Kaur to enter her 40s, Litchfield had largely played second fiddle till the eighth over. And then, she began to take charge, slashing Amanjot over point for a boundary and then thumping a six down the ground.

By the mid-innings mark, with both the batters motoring along smoothly, the scoring rate had picked up to nine, and Lanning and Litchfield decided to switch to fifth gear - leading a double attack of precision, timing and crafty execution. Both of them began with going down the track to Kerr, and then Litchfield carted Amanjot for two boundaries and two sixes before holing out to the backward square leg fielder. Lanning continued the carnage in the next over against Matthews by pulling her for three boundaries before hitting one down the throat of the deep square leg fielder.

With quickfire half-centuries and a 124-run stand, they had set the required foundation that was needed for UPW's late flourish, one that should have helped the side post in excess of 200. Instead, the incoming batters struggled to hit big, and kept losing their wickets in the process of taking on the fielders on the longer side of the boundary.

But it wasn't just the UPW batters, even MI's top order struggled. In a period of 17.1 overs of play that followed (between the two teams), only 120 runs were scored for the loss of 10 wickets.

What was it then, that made Lanning and Litchfield's partnership seem like it was being played on a different track?

It wasn't chanceless for sure. Straightforward, and tough catches were put down, allowing them much more time in the middle than they should've got. But the frequency which they were able to middle their shots, and find their gaps, stood out. After UPW's innings, Litchfield suggested that "it's probably the best of the three pitches that we've played on. Even though it's been worn and torn over a few weeks here, it's pretty nice. So I know that we need to get up at 200."

But when Kerr was asked about the pitch after the game, she had a different assessment. "It was a good wicket but a little bit slower. If spinners held their pace, you could get a little bit of turn. Potentially, that's what made it hard through that middle phase for us to rotate and then the lack of boundaries as well."

Before the clever changes of pace and the lure to hit towards the longer side of the boundary found its desired result for MI, Lanning and Litcfield had done the required damage; stitched a partnership that would go on to dictate the outcome of the contest.

Both the Australian batters were effusive in praise of the help that was offered to them by the other.

"We complement each other pretty well," was Litchfield's assessment. "I know that if I'm ever struggling, she's (Lanning) going, and then vice versa. It's pretty fun to bat with a person like her. Running between the wickets and hitting boundaries comes easy when you're batting with her."

Lanning repeated similar words, with greater clarity, in response. "It's nice batting with Phoebe Litchfield. We hit to different areas of the ground, and I think we complement each other really well. We're starting to understand each other's games too, so we can help each other out when needed. She took a lot of pressure off me with the strike rate she had. I certainly really enjoyed it, hopefully we can have a couple more before the tournament's out."

Despite a late counter attack by Kerr and Amanjot, UPW sealed a comfortable 22-run victory. Now, as the Navi Mumbai leg ends, with two wins in two games against the defending champions, they have resurrected their chances of being in contention for a playoffs berth heading to Vadodara.

More than the victories, it's the confidence this new pack of players have found themselves under a new leader. Lanning believes, "In the last two games, we've really nailed that planning process. Then we came out into the game very clear about what we wanted to do. It's been nice to have that work off the field transfer into execution on the field as well."

UP Warriorz are still strong in the competition, with their Australian imports leading the fight.