Cricket is a team game. You win matches only when you have different people stepping up at different points of time. In the 2026 WPL, Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s blueprint has been built on this very maxim. With five out of five wins and five different player-of-the-match awardees, RCB have shown that teamwork is the essence of their success. However, the most striking difference between RCB and the other teams, has been the ability of the Indian players to take up responsibility and step up when the team needs them, instead of being overly reliant on the overseas options.
It is natural for the overseas players to leave an impact, which is why they have been picked in the first place. But relying solely on four out of eleven, can prove costly for a team, which is trying to secure a place in the playoff race.
If we take UP Warriorz for instance, their batting looks solid as long as Phoebie Litchfield and Meg Lanning are there at the crease. However, the moment they are dismissed, we see a batting collapse, and the team is unable to post a total that initially seemed achievable.
A similar pattern can also be seen with Gujarat Giants, who have largely depended on overseas batters like Ashleigh Gardner, Sophie Devine and Georgia Wareham to rescue them. Sure, we have also witnessed domestic talents like Bharti Fulmali, Anushka Sharma and Kanika Ahuja stepping up, but their contributions have largely come in games where at least one overseas batter had already laid the foundation.
Delhi Capitals, too, have leaned heavily on their top-order overseas talents like Laura Wolvaardt and Lizelle Lee. Even in the match where Shafali Verma played that masterclass of a knock against RCB, the lack of sufficient support from the rest of the Indian batting unit hurt their chances, as reflected in their ability to close out games.
Defending champions, Mumbai Indians, also showcase one of the strongest cases of overseas dependence. Their bowling is overly reliant on their overseas options like Nat-Sciver Brunt and Nichola Carey and so is their batting. Even when Indian players like Harmanpreet Kaur and Amanjot Kaur try their level best to take the team across the line, their bowling suffers largely if the overseas players are unable to make a mark, underlying how much MI’s fortune revolve around their performances.
In contrast, RCB’s success so far has been built on a collective Indian effort. Whether it is Richa Ghosh and Radha Yadav contributing with the bat after an initial collapse, Smriti Mandhana’s captain’s knock of 96, Shreyanka Patil’s fifer, Sayali Satghare providing breakthroughs in the first over itself, Arundhati Reddy’s tight spells with the ball and brilliant match-finishing skills with the bat, or exceptional fielding efforts from Radha Yadav – RCB have stood tall, as one. They too have excellent overseas players like Nadine De Klerk, Lauren Bell, Grace Harris, and Georgia Voll, yet there has been a balance in the overall performance of the team, which has allowed them to dominate consistently.
Even in the match against GG, which took place on Monday, we saw a young debutant, Gautami Naik, taking the reins of the batting unit, after the team lost both Grace Harris and Smriti Mandhana early. She set the tone perfectly and absorbed pressure, while hitting the occasional big shot at the same time. She made the job easy for the lower-order batters like Richa, Radha or even Shreyanka, who could play fearless cricket, from the moment they went out there in the middle. Needless to say, the young talent from Maharashtra, was adjudged Player of the Match for her brilliance and presence of mind.
Time and time again, the Indian core has made its presence felt and put the best foot forward, even when the talented overseas players have failed to make a mark. Whether it is absorbing pressure in tricky phases, setting the tone in the powerplay with big shots or providing crucial spells with the ball, the domestic players have made sure that the team never looks one dimensional. In a league where overseas brilliance often grabs attention, RCB have shown that sustained success is built on Indian performances owning the big moments.
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