RCB sealed their final berth at last. At the end of the Navi Mumbai leg, they were not only the only team to remain unbeaten, but also the only team to have already qualified for the knockouts. However, when it came to confirming their spot in the final, they stumbled twice. In their last game today against UPW, they were finally back to their best. UPW, batting first, managed 143/8 in 20 overs, and RCB finished the game with ease, with 41 balls remaining.
UPW tried yet another new opening pair in Deepti Sharma and Meg Lanning. Deepti, back up the order after years, held her end of the bargain and, alongside Lanning, gave UPW a good start. While Lauren Bell kept the scoring rate in check in the first few overs, Deepti found a release over in Shreyanka Patil’s first, and then both Lanning and Deepti hit a flurry of boundaries. The duo quickly took UPW to 74 in 8 overs. Nadine de Klerk removed the UPW captain with the first ball of her spell before dismissing Amy Jones, who came in for the injured Phoebe Litchfield, off the fifth ball of the same over. It was de Klerk’s sixth wicket in the first over of her spell this season, the most in WPL 2026. UPW’s batting fell apart while Deepti was stranded at the other end.
From 74/0, UPW lost four wickets in 32 balls for just 29 runs. Although Deepti brought up a half-century, the rest of the batters did not cross the 15-run mark. Former UPW player Grace Harris came on to bowl for the first time and picked up two wickets. De Klerk then claimed two more to finish with her second four-for in WPL 2026 and became the highest wicket-taker (16) for RCB in a single season.
In reply, Grace Harris came out all guns blazing. She was helped, of course, by some poor field settings from Lanning and wayward bowling from Kranti Gaud. Harris raced to 31 off 15 balls in the first three overs, which gave Smriti Mandhana time to settle and play her strokes. Much like in the reverse fixture, Harris kept attacking and in no time reached 75 before being bowled by Shikha Pandey. By the time UPW removed Harris, Mandhana was in full flow. She took it upon herself and raced to her second fifty of the season. Georgia Voll, in trying to finish the game quickly, ended up losing her wicket, but RCB sealed an eight-wicket win on the first ball of the 14th over.
RCB winning this game gives DC and MI the chance to win their respective matches and stay in contention. With two more games to go, there are still two playoff spots to be filled, with the Eliminator clash essentially yet to be decided.
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