Vadodara: Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) won the toss and elected to field first against Delhi Capitals in the 2026 Women’s Premier League (WPL) final at the BCA Stadium in Kotambi, Vadodara, on Thursday. Both teams are unchanged from their wins in their last games in the competition.
RCB won the WPL in 2024 and are aiming to add their second title. DC, meanwhile, are three-time runners-up and are keen to break their losing jinx in a WPL title clash. RCB qualified for the final as table-toppers, while DC edged Gujarat Giants in the Eliminator to enter their fourth straight summit clash.
“Of course, it’s been a trend in the tournament, but having said that, on a good wicket, it’s always good to know what you’re going to chase. It’s been brilliant, I feel. First 2-3 days, we all had a good time off. We didn’t think a lot about cricket.
“Of course, in the last two or three days, we came back together, practised hard. Again, there’s nice nerves, nice anxiousness, and nice excitement, and I feel you all have to embrace it. We’ve all had a chat about it – don’t run away from it, just embrace it,” said RCB captain Smriti Mandhana.
“I’m not sure that it’s different. What’s worked for us is keeping things as simple as we can. I think nothing will change for us today as well. Everyone had that calm energy today. But of course, the excitement level is high. For sure, I mean, we know that we have to turn up and play our best cricket,” she added.
DC skipper Jemimah Rodrigues said it is better to lose the toss in such games, but conceded that she would have bowled first too. “Firstly, in such big games, it’s better to lose the toss because sometimes it always works out for good. So, we would have also bowled first, but we’re happy with what came.
“Just kept it very simple. Didn’t try to overthink it too much. Kept it simple, kept our plan simple. One good thing is playing the Eliminator; we’re playing on the same pitch again. So we know what it’s going to look like and we’re ready for today,” she said.
The final will be played on pitch number five, the same surface used for the Eliminator clash. Former New Zealand women’s keeper Katey Martin said shorter boundaries were expected to favour batters.
The square boundaries are at 54m and 58m respectively, with a straight boundary of 66m. Katey also noted that less grass across the cracks could still offer assistance to bowlers if they hit consistent areas, as DC seam-bowling all-rounder Chinelle Henry did in the Eliminator when she claimed three wickets.
Playing XIs:
Delhi Capitals: Shafali Verma, Lizelle Lee (wk), Laura Wolvaardt, Jemimah Rodrigues (capt), Marizanne Kapp, Chinelle Henry, Niki Prasad, Sneh Rana, Minnu Mani, Nandni Sharma, N Sree Charani
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Smriti Mandhana (capt), Grace Harris, Georgia Voll, Richa Ghosh (wk), Radha Yadav, Nadine de Klerk, Pooja Vastrakar, Shreyanka Patil, Sayali Satghare, Arundhati Reddy, Lauren Bell
(IANS)
