The 4th season of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2026 has had a blockbuster start with the opening fixture scheduled between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Mumbai Indians (MI). Defending champions MI lost the match to RCB by three wickets. Player of the Match Nadine de Klerk stole the show with her all-round outing.
MI Women’s team started the innings with the bat after losing the toss to RCB Women. The Harmanpreet Kaur-led team had a tough start to their campaign after losing three wickets in the first 10 overs. They lost their opener, Amelia Kerr, at four runs, while Gunalan Kamalini managed to add 32 runs in 28 balls for the starters. Meanwhile, England Women’s all-rounder Nat-Sciver Brunt was the second batter to go out at four runs.
However, it was captain Harmanpreet, Nicola Carey, and Sajeevan Sajana who somehow managed to get in scores for the team. The three altogether added around 105 runs to the target score with Harmanpreet (20 off 17), Nicola (40 off 29), and Sajeevan (45 off 25) making valuable contributions. RCB Women bowlers were successful in restricting MI at 154/6, all thanks to De Klerk’s four-wicket haul. The remaining two wickets came from Lauren Bell and Shreyanka Patil, taking one each.
For the RCB Women’s team, the run chase of 155 was a close one, but somehow, they managed it with teamwork and through dominant play from De Klerk. Openers Grace Harris (25 off 12) and captain Smriti Mandhana (18 off 13) started the second innings strong, but the remaining three batters failed to continue the momentum, with 14 runs achieved. De Klerk contributed massively with her undefeated 63 runs off 44 balls. Arundhati Reddy was another major addition, scoring 20 runs in 25 balls.
RCB Women’s team chased the target score in 20 overs, finishing at 157/7. Amelia and Nicola took two wickets each, while Sciver-Brunt, Shabnim Ismail, and Amanjot Kaur claimed one each. The Smriti Mandhana-led RCB Women have started their campaign in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2026 with a decisive victory over MI Women. With one win, they currently sit at the top of the points table with two points.
RCB captain on the win
Bagging the first victory in the initial match of the tournament, RCB Women’s captain Mandhana shared her excitement in the post-match interview and credited De Klerk’s remarkable contribution to the team’s victory.
Mandhana said, “For the first match, it was a thriller. RCB are known for thrillers, and brilliant from Nadine. Everyone was very positive, even when things were not going well. The preparation has been nice. Everyone is looking good. Nadine did all the work for us in the batting and bowling department. We saw it in Vishakhapatnam when she played it against us.”
Royal Challengers Bengaluru WPL 2026 Squad
Smriti Mandhana (C), Richa Ghosh, Sayali Satghare, Shreyanka Patil, Georgia Voll, Nadine de Klerk, Radha Yadav, Lauren Bell, Linsey Smith, Prema Rawat, Arundhati Reddy, Pooja Vastrakar, Grace Harris, Gautami Naik, Prathyoosha Kumar, D. Hemalatha
Mumbai Indians WPL 2026 Squad
Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Hayley Matthews, Amanjot Kaur, G. Kamalini, Amelia Kerr, Shabnim Ismail, Sanskriti Gupta, Sajana Sajeevan, Rahila Firdous, Nicola Carey, Poonam Khemnar, Triveni Vasistha, Nalla Reddy, Saika Ishaque, Milly Illingworth
