Royal Challengers Bengaluru Women vs Mumbai Indians Women, 16th Match, Women's Premier League 2026 - Commentary
Start Time
7:30 PM
2:00 PMGMT
7:30 PMLOCAL
Match starts at Jan 26, 14:00 GMT
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Preview
So much has changed since Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru met on the opening night of the season. That evening, the defending champions appeared to have the game sewn up before Nadine de Klerk pulled the rug from under them. What should have been an early stumble instead became the spark for something far bigger.
RCB have not looked back since. Five straight wins this season, six if one counts the victory that closed out their campaign last year, have carried them into the playoffs first and etched a record winning streak in WPL history. The momentum has been decisive, controlled, with as many as five different players winning the Player of the Match accolade.
MI's story over the same stretch has unfolded very differently. Just two wins so far, despite retaining the core of a side that delivered the team its second championship last year. The issues have been both of tempo and consistency, and they have surfaced almost immediately at the top of the order. As many as four opening combinations have been trialled, none of them managing to consistently cash in on the PowerPlay. It is evidenced in the stat that they have the slowest scoring openers. The consequence has been familiar: Harmanpreet Kaur and Nat Sciver-Brunt repeatedly forced into roles of consolidation and counterattack rather than acceleration from a position of strength.
With two league games left, time is beginning to work against MI. They find themselves, somewhat unexpectedly, on the fringes of the qualification race. And yet, with the mid-table still tightly bunched, the door has not closed entirely. A late surge remains possible, if they can finally align their phases.
RCB will be alert to that possibility. In a long tournament, early momentum can secure qualification, but it is late-season rhythm that often decides trophies. Having stumbled for the first time in this campaign two nights ago, RCB will hope that defeat remains an outlier, and not the beginning of a pattern, just as emphatic as the one that carried them here after the last MI clash.
When: RCB vs MI, January 26, 19:30 IST
Where: BCA Stadium, Kotambi, Vadodara
What to expect: No one-way traffic. Results here have mirrored the even split between teams batting and bowling first, and bowlers have stayed in the contest in all four games so far. RCB's 178 in the opening fixture remains the only instance this season where 160 has been breached, underlining that run-scoring hasn't been easy on the black-soil wickets of Kotambi.
Team News:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Notwithstanding their first defeat of the season, RCB are unlikely to tinker with a settled combination so soon after. Arundhati Reddy may not have struck in the two overs she bowled on her return from injury, but her presence alone further strengthens the side, adding experience and balance to an attack that has otherwise functioned with notable clarity.
Probable XI: Grace Garris, Smriti Mandhana (c), Georgia Voll, Gautami Naik, Richa Ghosh (wk), Nadine de Klerk, Radha Yadav, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, Sayali Satghare, Lauren Bell
Mumbai Indians
MI's combination muddles and persistent top-order issues came to a head in the previous game against DC, when Amelia Kerr was left out altogether. Regular opener Hayley Matthews has endured a lean run herself in the three games: a highest score of 22 so far, with just two wickets to accompany it, offering little clarity to a problem MI have yet to solve.
Kerr's absence has also left MI without her wickets in what is now a slightly inexperienced bowling group, thinned further by injuries. The New Zealander has 10 wickets this season, a number that underlines the cost of that omission. There may yet be a case to revisit her as an opener, even with the obvious caveats viz. it is not her natural role, and her struggles against Lauren Bell in the season opener remain fresh.
Probable XI: Hayley Matthews/Amelia Kerr, Sajeevan Sajana, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Rahila Firdous (wk), Nicola Carey, Amanjot Kaur, Vaishnavi Sharma, Poonam Khemnar, Sanskriti Gupta, Shabnim Ismail
What they said:
"When we lose, a lot of good things go unnoticed. One thing I really liked was that after the six overs, every bowler came in talking about keeping a fielder in and building pressure. Instead of playing it safe, everyone wanted to push for wickets, and I didn't have to tell anyone. That, for me, is a winning mindset" - Smriti Mandhana, after RCB's first defeat of the season.
So much has changed since Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru met on the opening night of the season. That evening, the defending champions appeared to have the game sewn up before Nadine de Klerk pulled the rug from under them. What should have been an early stumble instead became the spark for something far bigger.
RCB have not looked back since. Five straight wins this season, six if one counts the victory that closed out their campaign last year, have carried them into the playoffs first and etched a record winning streak in WPL history. The momentum has been decisive, controlled, with as many as five different players winning the Player of the Match accolade.
MI's story over the same stretch has unfolded very differently. Just two wins so far, despite retaining the core of a side that delivered the team its second championship last year. The issues have been both of tempo and consistency, and they have surfaced almost immediately at the top of the order. As many as four opening combinations have been trialled, none of them managing to consistently cash in on the PowerPlay. It is evidenced in the stat that they have the slowest scoring openers. The consequence has been familiar: Harmanpreet Kaur and Nat Sciver-Brunt repeatedly forced into roles of consolidation and counterattack rather than acceleration from a position of strength.
With two league games left, time is beginning to work against MI. They find themselves, somewhat unexpectedly, on the fringes of the qualification race. And yet, with the mid-table still tightly bunched, the door has not closed entirely. A late surge remains possible, if they can finally align their phases.
RCB will be alert to that possibility. In a long tournament, early momentum can secure qualification, but it is late-season rhythm that often decides trophies. Having stumbled for the first time in this campaign two nights ago, RCB will hope that defeat remains an outlier, and not the beginning of a pattern, just as emphatic as the one that carried them here after the last MI clash.
When: RCB vs MI, January 26, 19:30 IST
Where: BCA Stadium, Kotambi, Vadodara
What to expect: No one-way traffic. Results here have mirrored the even split between teams batting and bowling first, and bowlers have stayed in the contest in all four games so far. RCB's 178 in the opening fixture remains the only instance this season where 160 has been breached, underlining that run-scoring hasn't been easy on the black-soil wickets of Kotambi.
Team News:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Notwithstanding their first defeat of the season, RCB are unlikely to tinker with a settled combination so soon after. Arundhati Reddy may not have struck in the two overs she bowled on her return from injury, but her presence alone further strengthens the side, adding experience and balance to an attack that has otherwise functioned with notable clarity.
Probable XI: Grace Garris, Smriti Mandhana (c), Georgia Voll, Gautami Naik, Richa Ghosh (wk), Nadine de Klerk, Radha Yadav, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, Sayali Satghare, Lauren Bell
Mumbai Indians
MI's combination muddles and persistent top-order issues came to a head in the previous game against DC, when Amelia Kerr was left out altogether. Regular opener Hayley Matthews has endured a lean run herself in the three games: a highest score of 22 so far, with just two wickets to accompany it, offering little clarity to a problem MI have yet to solve.
Kerr's absence has also left MI without her wickets in what is now a slightly inexperienced bowling group, thinned further by injuries. The New Zealander has 10 wickets this season, a number that underlines the cost of that omission. There may yet be a case to revisit her as an opener, even with the obvious caveats viz. it is not her natural role, and her struggles against Lauren Bell in the season opener remain fresh.
Probable XI: Hayley Matthews/Amelia Kerr, Sajeevan Sajana, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Rahila Firdous (wk), Nicola Carey, Amanjot Kaur, Vaishnavi Sharma, Poonam Khemnar, Sanskriti Gupta, Shabnim Ismail
What they said:
"When we lose, a lot of good things go unnoticed. One thing I really liked was that after the six overs, every bowler came in talking about keeping a fielder in and building pressure. Instead of playing it safe, everyone wanted to push for wickets, and I didn't have to tell anyone. That, for me, is a winning mindset" - Smriti Mandhana, after RCB's first defeat of the season.
Squads:
Mumbai Indians Women Squad: Sajeevan Sajana, Hayley Matthews, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Nicola Carey, Amanjot Kaur, Sanskriti Gupta, Rahila Firdous(w), Vaishnavi Sharma, Poonam Khemnar, Shabnim Ismail, Saika Ishaque, Milly Illingworth, Triveni Vasistha, Nalla Kranthi Reddy, Amelia Kerr
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Women Squad: Grace Harris, Smriti Mandhana(c), Georgia Voll, Gautami Naik, Richa Ghosh(w), Radha Yadav, Nadine de Klerk, Arundhati Reddy, Sayali Satghare, Shreyanka Patil, Lauren Bell, Prathyoosha Kumar, Prema Rawat, Dayalan Hemalatha, Pooja Vastrakar, Linsey Smith
