On Monday, January 19, 2026, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) Women registered another brilliant win of the ongoing Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2026 after defeating Gujarat Giants by 61 runs. Player of the Match Gautami Naik’s dominant run and bowler Sayali Satghare led RCB Women to add their fifth straight win. They now lead the points table with 10 points achieved from all five matches played and won by them. Meanwhile, GG Women remain in fourth position with four points only after three consecutive defeats.
For RCB Women, the first innings started with a downfall after losing two wickets in two overs of opener Grace Harris (1 off 3) and Georgia Voll (1 off 3). However, captain Smriti Mandhana, the other opening batter, managed to get the rhythm in the initial overs with her 26 off 23, which was then beautifully carried forward by Naik. The all-rounder scored 73 runs off 55 at a strike rate of 132.72. Meanwhile, Richa Ghosh (27 off 20) and Radha Yadav (17 off 8) made decent contributions, while both Nadine de Klerk (4* off 6) and Shreyanka Patil (8* off 2) remained undefeated.
RCB Women finished the innings at 178/6 with GG Women bowlers including Kashvee Gautam and Ashleigh Gardner taking two wickets each, while Renuka Singh and Sophie Devine added one.
Like RCB Women, Gujarat Giants also suffered with early wickets in the second innings. They lost their openers, Beth Mooney (3 off 4) and Devine (0 off 4), along with Kanika Ahuja (0 off 3) in the first three overs. Meanwhile, middle-order batters Anushka Sharma (18 runs off 20) and captain Gardner (54 runs off 43) somehow gained the momentum, but it failed to be carried by the remaining batters in the lineup.
The loss of three more wickets, including batters Kashvee Gautam (4 off 8), Georgia Wareham (2 off 6), and Bharti Fulmali (14 off 15), ended in Gujarat Giants Women’s defeat, who finished the innings at 117/8. Meanwhile, Tanuja Kanwar (11* off 11) and Renuka (6* off 6) were the only undefeated batters.
After adding two wickets from this match, RCB Women’s De Klerk is now at top of the purple cap leaderboard with 10 wickets from 10 innings played so far.
Smriti Mandhana on RCB Women’s successive win
During the post-match interview, RCB Women’s captain Mandhana shared her delight at the team’s fifth straight victory in WPL 2026 while crediting the performances showcased by the team members in the five matches played so far.
Mandhana said, “Always great to see that. Everyone has had an important moment in this WPL even when they are not winning POTM. Looking forward to the break. To play three matches in four days with a travel day, extremely proud of the girls. Not easy to play high intensity matches and play again. Message will just be to take a break for a couple of days. We’ve not been really big on what’s going to happen after 10 or 15 days. It’s about doing each day right, including practice sessions.”
