Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) registered their second straight loss of their Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2026 campaign after losing against Mumbai Indians (MI) by 15 runs on Monday, January 26. Despite the loss, RCB Women remain as the No. 1 in the points table, while MI joins them behind after adding their third win and a net run rate of 0.146. However, the highlight of the match was all-rounder Nat Sciver-Brunt, who scored the first century of the tournament, while RCB’s Richa Ghosh was 10 runs behind to become another centurion of the match.
After losing the toss to RCB, MI were given the first innings to bat. MI openers entered the field with a winning mindset, but in the second over, they lost the wicket of Sajeevan Sajana (7 off 7). Meanwhile, Hayley Matthews creates a strong momentum backed by Sciver-Brunt. Together they went on to score a brilliant partnership of 131 runs. Hayley set up a half-century score of 56 off 39, while Sciver-Brunt was not-out at 100 runs off 57 balls. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur followed next after Hayley’s exit and scored 20 off 12. Amanjot Kaur added four runs, while Amelia Kerr was not out at 1 off 1, completing MI Women’s innings at 199/4.
Hayley’s dominance, however, did not end with the bat. Her bowling in the second innings resulted in a major setback for the RCB Women. The failed attempts from the opening and middle-order batters saw RCB at 77/6 in the 12th over. However, it was the lower-order who managed to make a valuable contribution to set up the momentum for the team. Richa set up a dominant performance of 90 runs in 50 balls, while Nadine de Klerk (28 off 20) and Arundhati Reddy (14 off 18). Shreyanka Patil was the only undefeated batter who was not-out at 12 runs off 5 balls.
MI Women’s bowling line-up was successful in restricting the RCB Women in the run chase, closing their innings at 184/9. Hayley picked up three wickets, while Shabnim Ismail and Kerr added two each, and Amanjot claimed one.
Besides leading the team to a brilliant win over table toppers, RCB, MI Women’s first centurion, Sciver-Brunt is now leading the orange cap leader board with 319 runs scored at a strike rate of 154.85 in six matches played so far. Skipper Harmanpreet is next in line at No. 2 with 260 runs. Meanwhile, Kerr is currently in second place on the purple cap table with 12 wickets. Delhi Capitals bowler Nandni Sharma is leading with 13 wickets at an average of 14.15.
