Royal Challengers Bengaluru Women vs Delhi Capitals Women, 15th Match, Women's Premier League 2026 - Commentary

So finally a loss for RCB-W. But they won't mind this. They know it was just an off day for them. The race for the other two spots are heating up as DC-W gain some momentum. That's it from all of us here. We are bouncing into the night for now. Bye bye.

Marizanne Kapp | Player of the Match: Yeah, look, I don't feel it's been going that well, to be honest. I started a bit slow this season, but it feels like I'm getting a bit of rhythm with both bat and ball, so just happy to finally contribute. (do you have a bowling captain's role?) Not really. I just love bowling in the powerplay. That's something I've been doing in this league quite a bit. Just enjoy the challenge. I feel like I probably bowl better when there's a bit of pressure on myself. (on her no-ball wicket) Yeah, I'm so annoyed with the no-balls. I don't know what's going on at the moment, but yeah, luckily it didn't hurt us too much. Would have been pretty upset with myself if Smriti went on to score some runs there. (are the conditions helping her this season?) I feel like this year it's probably a little tougher than previous years. I felt like previous years it actually swung a bit more and the wickets we've played on were probably a bit quicker. So it's not been that nice to bowl on. (on her team gaining momentum) Yeah, I feel like we're getting a bit of momentum. It's different people starting to pick up their hands and that's always good to see. Hopefully we can just keep on getting better every game and improve on all three skills.

Jemimah Rodrigues | DC-W captain: A hundred percent and credit goes to the team. I think one thing this team has kept doing is kept believing and kept executing what we planned. So I think it makes my job easy as a captain. (everything went to plan tonight?) Yeah, it did. I think we were under a little pressure when Smriti was batting too, but I think a brilliant catch worked and Minnu coming in. I think credit goes to her for her to bowl the way she did, even to right-handers. I think that was great. Kappy being Kappy as always, you know. But I think, yeah, things just were really good, I would say. But we also worked hard to get it done. So I would give credit, a lot of credit to the girls. (on the discussion in RCB-W's innings) Yeah, we did have a discussion. Minnu was anyway going to come on, even if the timer was not on, because of the lefty. But I think, yeah, we just kept talking about how we need to keep attacking the stumps. And don't worry too much about picking wickets, just attack the stumps, wickets will come. So I think that's what everyone did really well. Didn't think too much about the outcome because we knew today's game was very crucial. Every game is, but today was really crucial for us given the form RCB are in. But I think we just stuck to our plans, things fell into place. (on them being 2nd on the table) Oh really! I didn't know that! Sometimes to win something you have to lose. So I think that's one of those days. But I think it also speaks a lot about the character of the girls. Like I strongly believe a champion team is a team who knows how to pick themselves up after a fall. And that's what this team has done. And I'm extremely, extremely proud of this team. We can enjoy this win today, but again, when we come back, we're back to business. Keep things simple, keep executing, keep sticking to our processes and the results will take care of itself. (if captaincy makes her age?) Yeah, quite a bit. But I've not gotten white hair so far, so it's fine. But I think I'm really enjoying it. I think every game is so different, but I'm also giving myself space to make mistakes. But I think even learning from the mistakes of the past, like I remember that match, the last time we played RCB, I kept Kappy for later, just thinking what if we need her in death. But today I was like, no, if she gets a wicket, then that happened. So I think that was my learning from there. So I think as long as you're learning, you can never make mistakes, if that makes sense.

Laura Wolvaardt: Yeah, very nice. Obviously had a couple of losses at the start of the tournament, so nice to be hitting a bit of a stride. Two games in a row, hopefully get a bit of momentum heading into the backend. (on Jemi's captaincy) Yeah, I think she was excellent today. A lot of really good decisions. I think bringing Kappy back for that fourth over and getting a wicket. Pretty brave move, but it paid off. I think she's been excellent around the group. I think you know her as a really bubbly person. She has a lot of energy to give the group. So yeah, it's been awesome how she's really, she sort of knows how to connect people and to talk to people. So she's been excellent at that. (on her batting) Definitely. I think just fielding and looking at their dismissals, a lot of it was sort of playing across the line or looking a bit too square. I think as a batting unit, we just had a chat to play as straight as we can. It always helps when you're only chasing a hundred to know what shots you can and can't play. I kind of just saw it as a bit of a 50-over game, just play each ball on merit. And I knew the only way they were winning that game was by taking wickets. So we just tried to build partnerships and then play as straight as we could. (on her fielding) Thanks. Yeah, I think it's something that I've always wanted to get a bit better at. My percentage has gone up lately with catching, so I'm very happy about that. Put in a bit of extra work with our fielding coach back at home. Yeah, I think as a specialist batter, you have a little more time to work on it and I'm glad I'm slowly getting a bit better at it. (what would she bowl, if she bowls?) A bit of offspin, I think.

Smriti Mandhana | RCB-W captain: For sure, I mean, in tournaments like these, you take these losses before the playoffs. So yeah, again, I think we did a lot of things right in the practice. We'll take all those positives and go ahead and I mean, we've just played really good cricket, one off day today for all of us. So we'll take all the learning from today and come back stronger. (on the pitch) Yeah, I feel the wicket is playing different every day here in Baroda. Last match when we played and the other matches, it kept quite low. Today, it was a little more spongy, I would say. So yeah, I think we could not adapt to it. We all thought maybe 160, 170, maybe 140 plus also was a good total. But again, I mean, credit to our bowlers. They fought really well. There's some things with our fielding and our batting, which we'll work on and take those right decisions. (on their fielding) Yeah, I mean, as I said earlier, I think as a captain, I'll take it today rather than playoffs one odd day. We really pride ourselves to field really well. So today's definitely something which we won't be really happy with as a team. And I think, yeah, this fielding performance should hit us in general for all the girls. But knowing our girls, they work really, really hard and I'm sure that they're going to come back harder, practice more harder and come back next match and go out and field the best again. (chat from you to the group after the batting innings?) The the only thing I said batting out there today, whatever balls I faced, I was telling them that, of course, this is one of the toughest wickets we have got in the tournament, so really thought that three, four wickets in the powerplay or something like that would really give us a chance, so keep it really positive, simple. Again, I mean, 20, 30 runs more would have been ideal, but again, I think it's a game of cricket. I'm really happy. I'm really impressed with all the bowlers. They were really wanting to have that one fielder in, not being very safe. They were wanting to win the match, which again, all the positives which as a captain, I'll take back. (on Sayali and Bell) Yeah, Sayali's been brilliant for us in the powerplay, as well as Belly, I mean, both of them are making good combination in terms of one takes it out, one takes it in. And again, we started off really, really well, but yeah, there's some few things we can definitely get better at in terms of taking those chances. But again, as I said, with this unit of girls, I'm extremely happy with the way they're working and I'm sure they'll just work their way up.

Catching efficiency in WPL 2026
81.8% - DC-W (6 dropped catches)
76.3% - RCB-W (9 dropped catches)*
71.8% - MI-W (9 dropped catches)
70.3% - UPW (8 dropped catches)
67.6% - GG-W (11 dropped catches)

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

22:34 Local Time, 17:04 GMT, 22:34 IST: An easy win and DC jump to 2nd spot after tonight. This win with 4.2 overs to spare boosts their NRR as well. Shafali started aggressively as usual before she and Lee fell in successive Sayali overs to give RCB-W some hope but skipper Jemimah and Wolvaardt steadied things with a calm stand. Since the target was not high, they could afford to take their time. The boundaries came and RCB-W's fielding helped too, they dropped a couple of easy catches and gave away boundaries with misfields. Jemi was not there to see her side through but Marizanne Kapp and Wolvaardt ensured they won with plenty of room to spare. RCB-W had won 6 in a row before tonight but this game they couldn't fire in any department. But they will take this off day when they have already qualified rather than on a big night. Stay tuned for the post-match stuff...

Back over the wicket.