'You'd rather have this sooner than later' - Malolan on RCB loss

Royal Challengers Bengaluru's seven-wicket defeat to Delhi Capitals in Vadodara ended their five-match winning run in WPL 2026, but acting head coach Malolan Rangarajan was clear that the loss, or the 'Q' against their name, wouldn't alter the team's larger direction in the competition.

"Qualification is important, but we are not here just to qualify. We want to seal the top spot," the RCB stand-in coach said. "So brushing this result under the carpet isn't easier just because we've qualified.

"They're all professionals. We need to understand what the conditions are. We need to find solutions. So if we needed to win the next two games [to finish atop the points table], I would, as coach, react the same way as I'd react now. But it's also important to acknowledge how well we've played over the last six games. So when you have a game like this, you'd rather have it sooner than later so the girls can go and reflect, and as a group, we can come back with better answers," Malolan said, framing the loss as an inescapable part of a long tournament.

The reflection began with a frank assessment of the night itself where the table-toppers could mount only 109, leaving themselves with too little to play with. Malolan admitted RCB were second-best across the board.

"You have to give credit where it's due. DC did outplay us in all three departments today, be it batting, bowling and fielding. So, while you can tell yourself that it's good to have [a bad game] out of the way [before knockouts], you have to also acknowledge things that have happened on the field."

Malolan acknowledged that conditions weren't straightforward, particularly early on, but stopped well short of using them as an excuse. "It wasn't necessarily the easiest pitch to bat on, especially in the PowerPlay. I thought Grace [Harris] and Smriti [Mandhana] started very well, [and] applied themselves... We were chatting through the innings and as we realized there's no dew coming in. We were kind of targeting getting about 140, it would have been plenty. And even with 110 there, we only have ourselves to blame today," Malolan noted, hinting at RCB's sub-par fielding that didn't allow the bowling attack to apply sustained pressure.

While the Vadodara tracks haven't been exactly as batting-friendly as the ones in the previous leg in Navi Mumbai's DY Patil Stadium, the RCB coach underlined his faith in the batters' intent. Most of RCB's batters got out trying to hit their way out of the rut, on pitches that have typically demanded patience and application before acceleration.

"The way we want to play, it sometimes might look like those were attacking shots, but you see the options they took. I like to minimize the hindsight chat as much as possible and prepare really well. As long as the options that our batters took were within the game, their game plan and their strengths, I'm okay with it.

"Having said that, as a coaching group and as a team, we will always look to evolve ourselves and get better, and most importantly, learn. We need to find solutions when it gets challenging. We've done it brilliantly over the previous [five] games- every time we've encountered some challenge, somebody's put their hand up. Today was one of those days where it didn't go our way. So we'll take it on our chin, rest, and the good thing is we get a chance to play again."

RCB's batting-order decisions, particularly around Radha Yadav's role, have drawn questions from the beginning. The allrounder was backed at No. 5 throughout the first-half- a move that did seem surprising but also reaped rich rewards for RCB when it clicked. However, since the match-winning fifty, the Vadodara local has been pushed down to promote their designated finisher Richa Ghosh instead at five. Malolan explained that the move was less about form and more about timing and clarity of roles.

"We also have to make sure our resource allocation has to be at its best as much as possible. Radha has a very clear role. While we are happy for her to bat at five, there's also a cutoff time for it - when it actually becomes prime time for someone like Richa to go in, so we have to keep tabs on that.

Backing Richa Ghosh's high-impact style, Malolan made it clear the trade-off was deliberate.

"The tactical side of it was that it felt as though if Richa could get going and get about 20-30 quick runs at that time, because Richa plays just the way she plays, I'd take that any day. There are going to be innings when Richa plays where she gets out early, we'll take that. But we know when she gets going, she'll turn the whole momentum of the game. And that's precisely what we wanted from Richa," he said. "Everybody is very clear of what they're expected to do when they go in."

At the same time, Malolan also highlighted Radha's impact contributions that often escape conventional scorecard recognition. "Radha showed the other side of a game in the previous game... Even though she didn't score a 50, on that pitch, scoring 18 of seven [17 off 8 balls] was brilliant. She batted at 200 strike rate. Those things go unnoticed. Sometimes only 50s and fifers are recognized, but it's very important to recognize what Radha did for us last game."