WPL 2026: RCB take on champs Mumbai Indians in opener

Bengaluru: There has been a sense of vacuum in and around the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in recent days, and it is because they are used to having Ellyse Perry in their dressing room for three years straight. 

And that has been the focal point of RCB’s talks in the lead-up to the Women's Premier League (WPL), starting Friday at the DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai.

In the 26 games across three seasons, RCB have only once played without Perry, and the result is not something the fans would want to look at. 

Despite Smriti Mandhana's 43-ball 74, they failed to chase down 195 against the Delhi Capitals at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. 

However, the best time to move on is the present, and the Mandhana-led RCB will certainly be looking forward to taking on the formidable Mumbai Indians in the tournament opener. 

In these circumstances, the onus will largely be on the batting unit. Mandhana will be the cynosure of all eyes, having enjoyed a record-breaking 2025, scoring 1703 international runs, the most by a woman in a calendar year. 

While Mandhana has been a benchmark of run-making on the international stage, the same can't be said in the WPL. 

In 26 matches, she has managed just 646 runs at an average of 24.84 at a strike rate of 128.68 with four fifties. 

And for a Perry-less RCB, a lot will ride on Mandhana’s batting performance, especially after failing to make the knockouts twice in the last three years. 

The 2024 WPL champions have also bolstered their batting by signing Georgia Voll, Nadine de Klerk and Grace Harris, and they seem to have covered all bases. 

The bowling department consists of Lauren Bell, Arundhati Reddy, Pooja Vastrakar, Shreyanka Patil, Linsey Smith, Radha Yadav and Prema Rawat. 

While it is among the best in the competition on paper, Vastrakar has not played a competitive game since October 2024, and Shreyanka has played just five. 

However, it will boil down to how they find their groove and manage their bowling fitness in a tournament that is unforgiving of its bowlers. 

On the other hand, two-time champions Mumbai Indians come in as the tournament favourites yet again, given their experience with three international captains in Harmanpreet Kaur, Nat Sciver-Brunt and Hayley Matthews. 

While MI ooze class and experience, they also have young blood with G Kamalini, who could cause some happy selection headaches at the top of the order. 

On the bowling front, they will be operating with the likes of pace ace Shabnim Ismail, Amelia Kerr, Milly Illingworth and Saika Ishaque.

So, when the floodlights are switched on at the DY Patil Sports Complex on Friday night, a venue that soaked in the glory of India's first-ever ODI World Cup triumph, Mandhana will look to take her first step towards WPL redemption and RCB, their lost touch. 

The Teams (from): Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 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, Dayalan Hemalath.

Mumbai Indians:  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.