Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) stormed their way into the Women’s Premier League 2026 (WPL 2026) final, following a commanding eight-wicket victory against UP Warriorz on Thursday, January 29, at the BCA Stadium, Kotambi, Vadodara. It was Grace Harris’ all-round brilliance, coupled with Nadine de Klerk’s phenomenal display with the ball, that saw RCB seal their place in their second WPL final.
Harris continued to torment UP with her willow, registering her second half-century of the season against them. She played a belligerent innings of 75 (37), studded with 13 fours and two sixes, and was involved in a massive 108-run stand off just 55 balls with captain Smriti Mandhana for the first wicket. The RCB skipper also scored a valuable unbeaten 54* (27), with the help of eight fours and two sixes, as she guided her team to chase down 144 in just 13.1 overs.
Earlier, Harris also contributed with the ball, scalping two wickets for 22 runs in her three overs. However, it was Nadine de Klerk who dominated the bowling charts, registering her best figures in WPL history (4/22). The right-arm seamer first dismissed a well-set Meg Lanning (41 off 30) to end the 74-run opening stand between her and Deepti Sharma.
WPL 2026: RCB-W vs UPW Match 18 Highlights
She then trapped Amy Jones lbw in the same over to trigger a collapse. De Klerk also got rid of Simran Shaikh (10 off 11) and Sophie Ecclestone (0 off 1) in her final over to finish with a four-wicket haul. Courtesy of her performance, she registered the most wickets in a single edition of the WPL for RCB, surpassing Shreyanka Patil’s tally of 13 wickets from their title-winning 2024 season.
Deepti stars with half century for UP
Her performance also helped Nadine become the joint-highest wicket-taker of the current season, with 15 wickets from eight innings and claim the purple cap. For UP, only Deepti could hold the innings together as wickets continued to tumble from one end, scoring the fourth half-century of her WPL career. She was eventually dismissed for 55 (43) as UP were restricted to 143/8 in their 20 overs.
Meanwhile, following their victory, RCB maintained their top position in the points table with six wins from eight matches, collecting 12 points. On the other hand, UP continued to reel at the bottom of the points table with two wins from seven matches, having four points to their name.
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