Gujarat Giants Women vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru Women, 12th Match, Women's Premier League 2026 - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

With six wins on the trot, RCB set the record for the longest winning streak in WPL. They have entered the playoffs and one more win will confirm their entry into the final. The team that finishes first gets a direct entry to the final. The Giants have some catching up to do. Meanwhile, Delhi and Mumbai lock horns in a few hours to better their chances. That's it for tonight. We will see you again tomorrow. Good night!

Gautami Naik | PoTM: I’m feeling very good. First of all, I would like to thank God for giving me this opportunity, and I’m happy that I was able to deliver for the team. I also want to thank the management for the trust they showed in me, and today I feel I was able to prove that trust right. (On moving to different states to play cricket) I would just like to say that I was enjoying my cricket. I just needed a chance to play. Be in anywhere, I just wanted to go back and play cricket again. It’s been a very long journey. You know how hard I’ve worked for this moment. I’ve sacrificed a lot to reach here. I want to thank my coaches, my mother, and my family who stood by me throughout this journey. Because of them, I feel I’ve been able to reach this stage. I want to dedicate this award to my coaches and my family. Because of them, I am here today. Everyone has put in a lot of effort for me, so I dedicate this award to them.

Smriti Mandhana | RCB captain (1/3): Very happy. The way we started, to get 180 plus from there was an excellent effort. Very very happy for Gautami. Coming from domestic cricket, doing well there but performing at the biggest stage. Coming in and batting at like 10 for 2 and then batting the way she did. I am really happy and proud about her and then the way she finished as well with Richa, Radha and Nadine. And then again the execution of the bowling plans was spot on. (What's stood out about Gautami) I think the attitude she's had from the first game. I remember her coming into the field and she didn't get to bat in the first game. But the attitude was spot on. That's what we discussed as well. That's something you can get out, you can do anything with this attitude. If you do well, I mean that's the most important thing. And today again, the application was spot on. Like the wicket wasn't easy to bat but then she understood very quickly and adapted very well. I mean for her to do it, without having the experience, that's a very commendable job. (On how they assessed the pitch) When I was betting out there and when we lost Grace and Voll and whatever balls I played when we had a strategic break, I did mention that I think 160 plus is a good total. Anything above that is a bonus but if we aim at 160 plus, I think we'll be able to defend it with the wickets which we have. Again, red soil to black soil is different. Last year these wickets were extremely different. Today it was a lot drier. So that's what we discussed and it was... Again, we can discuss it, but it's on the girls to adapt quickly, so I am really happy.

Smriti Mandhana (2/3): (On different players performing in different games) It's amazing to see that kind of a thing when you have, it's like a happy support staff when you have five different match winners. And not only people who've won the award, I mean, everyone has had a moment in this WPL where they've done, maybe taken an important wicket or broken an important partnership, took an important catch, or had a role to play in the batting innings as well. So that's something extremely happy. I feel everyone, whoever has played in eleven has they'll go back home saying that, oh, we did this, and we won the match. Looking forward to the break. I mean, to play three matches in four days with a travel day. Extremely proud of the girls and their effort. Again, it's not an easy thing to come and play these high intensity matches and then have a travel day in between. But the message is just going to be clear. Just maybe take a two days break and come back. Genuinely, the group we have, sometimes you have to tell them to stop working hard rather than the other way because they are extremely hard working.

Smriti Mandhana (3/3): (RCB winning six games on the trot) One of it's kind for RCB (laughs). Again, it's not been really big on what's going to happen after 10 or 15 days. It's about doing the smaller things right, doing each day right, taking each match at a time and also having practice sessions. So everyone's put in a lot of hard work. Credit to our support staff as well. They've kept everyone really positive and happy, which is again a good atmosphere to be. So I don't think I need to really put my hand up and say a lot of things. Everyone knows their work. And again, I mean, what happens after 10 to 15 days is something which we're not looking forward to. We are just looking forward to going out tomorrow, day after, and then coming back and practicing extremely hard for the next match.

Nadine de Klerk (1/2): (On her success formula) I think it really helps starting to bowl after Belly (Lauren Bell) has opened the bowling for us really. I think she started us off basically every single game, picked up obviously a few of the big hitters up front. And yeah, I guess makes my job a bit easier coming in and just in the middle overs just try and hit the stumps as many times as I can and force batters to play a false shot. So yeah, I guess it's about just keeping it simple and then just trying to back up the other bowlers from the powerplay.  Yeah, I think honestly, it's been tough for the bowlers in Mumbai. So I think to come over here, probably a bit harder to bat on today. So I think to get to 178, again, all credits to our batters for going out and making it look really easy. They had to work really hard for the runs and that really gave us a total to defend. So I think it was always going to be hard for Gujarat to chase the 180. And I think our bowlers bowled brilliantly. Keep it on the stumps. You can probably err a little on the shorter side, which is nice as a bowler. And yeah, like I said, just force them to play a false shot. And it came off today, which is great. Yeah, I think, again, like I said, we have really good bowlers that operate in the powerplay. I think Sayali has come in and made a massive impact. I think obviously two games in a row, striking in her first over is pretty special. Obviously, for someone who hasn't been playing. So that, again, makes our lives so much easier. But yeah, I guess, like I said, we have new ball bowlers that can really swing the ball up front. And then my job is just to come in and try and hit the stumps and just mix it up really and finish it off in the backend. So I think our bowling group has worked well together over the last couple of games. And I think that's been a massive part of our success over the last couple of games.

Nadine de Klerk (2/2): (On family being here) Maybe they're my good luck charm, but it's great to have my family over here. Obviously I had to twist my mother's arm to get my sister over here to miss school, but it's great to have them here. I've seen a couple of reactions from them on the big screen, which is nice. But yeah, really do appreciate the support. And obviously playing for RCB, we always have a home crowd. It doesn't matter where we go, which is always really special as well. (Confidence level in the team on a scale of 10) I would say 12 (smiles). Yeah, I just think we've had different people put up their hands over the last couple of games. We haven't been relying on one or two players, which is a really good place to be as a group. I think we've had different bowlers, like I've mentioned before, obviously with our powerplay bowlers being brilliant. Our spinners coming in in the middle overs as well, and then the rest of the bowlers finishing it off. And I guess the same with the batters. We've had different people stepping up and putting up big scores. I mean, Gautami today played a beautiful innings. It wasn't easy out there, but I guess to get a 70 on that wicket and get ourselves to a pretty good score is really special. And like I said, it's just not relying on one or two players. And I think that's been a massive key to our success as well over the last five games. Well, congratulations. You're into the playoffs and purple suits you. Thanks, guys. Thanks.

Ash Gardner | GG captain (1/2): Yeah, it's pretty frustrating. I'm not going to lie (on winning the toss and losing). I just think we're just not winning those small moments, whether it's in the field where you're taking chances and then people go on to make decent scores. I think tonight when they missed the stumps, we didn't capitalise on them. But as soon as we left the stumps, they capitalised on them. So, it's just those small moments that we're not winning at the moment. You know, we're two or three, so it's pretty obvious that we need to win these last three games. But, yeah, overall, it's pretty frustrating. (On how the pitch played) Yeah, you've obviously got to fight when you go back to play square against the ball... You know, I said at the toss that we had to keep the stumps in play. I think if you look at our dismissals when we got bowled or caught we were going across the line. So, I think the way that we need to go forward is to try and play really straight. I felt like that was the best option. I think a lot of the positive scoring options were down the ground. So, making sure that, you know, you give yourself the best chance in the ball does stay a little bit low, which it did at times. But yeah, overall, there's plenty of learnings, which is always a positive. But, you know, standing here after a loss is never great. We just knew that we had to utilise the wicket. It sounds pretty cliche. The bounce wasn't necessarily true. The ball wasn't always staying consistently off the same length. I've always been a decent match up to Smriti. So making sure that I keep the stumps in play. I guess the mode of dismissals that got her out on going across the line, so making sure that I stay nice and straight, knowing that she is really strong square of the wicket.

Ash Gardner | GG captain (2/2): No (wasn't expecting that kind of a knock from Gautami). We obviously know the talent that's there in Indian domestic cricket. The last time we played RCB, Radha made runs. But it's us talking about those players and not being as clinical as, I guess, their bigger names, which comes back to us as bowlers and me as captain, making sure that I can stay nice and accountable to all the players. I think it's so important to make sure that we speak evenly across the top seven, eight players because it just shows that a young player coming in can have a real impact. (On her innings) Yeah, I was pretty angry out there to be honest (smiles). I think it was obvious. Yeah, I was really frustrated. I felt like I was either hitting good shots to the fielders or just missing the ball. And like I mentioned before, I felt like they didn't necessarily pay for when they missed the stumps, where I think that bowling innings, you know, every time that we bowled wide, we kind of went into the boundary. So I guess, upon reflection, yeah, I was probably just trying a little bit too hard to shock, but yeah, I think for me going forward, it's making sure that you just hit nice cricket shots.

Most consecutive wins in WPL
6* - RCB-W (2025-26)
5 - MI-W (2023)
5 - MI-W (2023-24)
5 - RCB-W (2024-25)
4 - DC-W (2024)

This is the second time that a team has started its WPL campaign with five wins in a row; after MI-W did that in the inaugural edition in 2023.

RCB-W are through to the playoffs.

Biggest victory margins in WPL (by runs)
143 runs - MI-W vs GG-W, Mumbai DYP, 2023
81 runs - GG-W vs UPW-W, Lucknow, 2025
72 runs - MI-W vs UPW-W, Mumbai DYP, 2023
61 runs - RCB-W vs GG-W, Vadodara, 2026
60 runs - DC-W vs RCB-W, Brabourne, 2023

Each of the previous six Women’s T20s at this venue - all in WPL 2025 - had been won by the chasing side.

22:57 Local Time, 17:27 GMT, 22:57 IST: So RCB have done the double on GG this season. The head-to-head record now tilts 5-3 in favour of RCB. The Gujarat Giants fought well in Navi Mumbai, but RCB bossed the show here in Vadodara. The hosts were actually off to a great start with both opening bowlers striking in their respective first overs but RCB had a surprise package in Gautami Naik. With Smriti she built a solid base for the third wicket and once she lost her captain, she took the responsibility of batting deep. She recorded her first WPL fifty and with contributions from others, RCB posted 178. There were 6 WPL games that were played here last year and all games were won by the chasing side. The Giants walked out with a lot of belief but Sayali Satghare rocked them early with a double strike in her very first over. Lauren Bell joined the party to make it 5/3. Anushka and Gardner seemed like they were in a recovery act but Nadine de Klerk gave breakthrough through the middle overs like she's always done this comp. None apart from Gardner could make notable contributions and eventually RCB remained undefeated five games into the season.