In Match 1 of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2026, Royal Challengers Bengaluru took on Mumbai Indians at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. RCB went into the WPL after a major setback when Ellyse Perry had withdrawn from the tournament, and it left a huge void in the RCB side. Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians managed to keep their core, with retentions and buying them back in the auction. It was a very exciting match in the making, considering the change in the squad dynamics, and the rivalry between Mumbai and RCB always keeps us on the edge of our seats.
Lauren Bell, the new pacer that RCB had acquired in the auction for 90 lakhs, was off to a great start in the opening overs of the game. Amelia Kerr and Kamalini were caught off guard as both batters struggled to get past Bell. She bowled 11 dot balls from the first two overs of her spell. She also picked up the important wicket of the dangerous Amelia Kerr, sending her packing in the 5th over of the game.
Mumbai Indians did not have the best of starts with the bat as they had lost 4 wickets for just 67 runs from the 11 overs. Their top order had been dismantled, with Kerr and Nat Sciver-Brunt failing to make an impact. But then, the middle order batters Nicola Carey and Sajeevan Sajana took matters into their own hands and formed a brilliant partnership of 82 runs.
Carey scored 40 from 29 balls, and Sajana had scored 45 off just 25 balls. Mumbai seemed like they would just cross the 130-mark in the first half of the innings, but the duo powered the Mumbai Indians to a decent total of over 150.
Nadine de Klerk was picked up by RCB for 65 lakhs, and they believed that she would be a valuable asset to the side with her all-round abilities to contribute with both bat and ball. She has surely announced herself here at the big stage, as she picked up a staggering 4-wicket haul, including the wickets of Sciver-Brunt and the skipper Harmanpreet Kaur.
After a disappointing outing with the bat, Kerr went on to make an impact with the ball in the match. She had a game-changing 1st over as she picked up two important wickets in the context of the chase, which were Richa Ghosh and Radha Yadav.
It was even more evident that Arundhati Reddy was unable to pick the length with her turn and precision. Kerr was able to close out her 4 overs with 2 wickets and just 14 runs. She was able to tighten the run chase, and her economical spell of bowling pushed the game to the very last ball.
Nicola Carey had an impactful innings with the bat, helping the Mumbai Indians put up a challenging total on the board. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur had thrown the ball to her, expecting a breakthrough or some quick wickets in the middle phase of the chase. Carey, once again, troubled RCB by picking up the two important wickets of Arundhati Reddy and Shreyanka Patil in the same over.
RCB were immediately pushed onto the back foot as they were beginning to gain momentum with the partnership of Reddy and de Klerk until Nicola Carey decided to spoil the show. However, Nadine de Klerk, despite wickets falling at the other end, was able to carry over her momentum from the 1st innings and she decided to stay till the end and take the game deep.
She did not receive much support from the other end as only Arundhati Reddy had anchored the innings and gave her some support out in the middle. She was also dropped twice and there was also a missed run-out opportunity where Kamalini failed to collect the ball.
With 18 required from 6 balls, de Klerk turned down singles for the first two balls, and she pulled off the impossible by chasing 20 runs off the next 4 balls. RCB had secured the 2 points, credit to an all-round performance by Nadine de Klerk.
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