On Friday, January 16, 2026, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) added their third consecutive win of the ongoing Women’s Premier League (WPL) after defeating Gujarat Giants by 32 runs. With that, they now secure the top spot of the points table with a Net Run Rate of 1.828. Meanwhile, GG Women suffered their second straight loss in the tournament and are currently in No. 3 of the table with four points from two wins.
The first innings saw RCB batters have a struggling start, but eventually found their momentum from the middle order. In the first five overs, they lost four batters, including openers Grace Harris (17 off 8) and captain Smriti Mandhana (5 off 8), and also Dayalan Hemalatha (4 off 8), and Gautami Naik (9 off 6). However, coming in next were Player of the Match Radha Yadav (66 off 47), Richa Ghosh (44 off 28), and Nadine de Klerk (26 off 12), who each made valuable contributions to post a total of 182/7.
Sophie Devine took three wickets for GG Women, Kashvee Gautam added two, while Renuka Singh and Georgia Wareham picked one each.
Meanwhile, the second innings played by GG Women also saw a struggling batting line-up. Opener Beth Mooney scored 27 runs off 14 balls, Devine got the exit early after scoring just eight runs, while Kanika Ahuja added 16 runs off 14 balls. Skipper Ashleigh Gardner also fell early, this time to Lauren Bell. Wareham (13 off 13), Bharti Fulmali (39 off 20), Kashvee Gautam (18 off 14), and Tanuja Kanwar (21 off 13) made decent contributions. But losing Shivani Singh and Rajeshwari Gayakwad at 0 runs ended in devastation for GG Women as they lost the run chase in 18.5 overs.
Youngster Shreyanka Patil picked up five massive wickets, while Bell added three and Arundhati Reddy and De Klerk got one each for RCB Women.
Smriti Mandhana on RCB Women’s victory
During the post-math interview, RCB Women’s captain Smriti Mandhana talked about certain areas that the team has to work on in order to prove themselves in the next game, while crediting the low-order partnership shared between Richa and Richa.
She said, “The partnership between Radha and Richa was something really special to watch and then Shrey coming in and bowling crucial overs and getting crucial wickets, whole team played very well today. In DY Patil you never know what’s a good total to defend, but with the bowling that we have and the kind of variety, we had the confidence but you can never be overconfident at DY Patil.
“We dropped two catches and both were sitters and we really pride ourselves to be good fielders so that’s not something that’s acceptable. I think the middle order where we are losing back-to-back wickets is an area we can work on.”
