🏏WPL 2026: Match 16: RCB W vs MI W at Vadodara on 26/01/26🏏

🏏WPL 2026: Match 16: RCB W vs MI W at BCA Stadium, Kotambi, Vadodara on 26/01/26 at 7:30PM IST🏏

Time running out for under-pressure MI as RCB eye direct final spot. Four defeats in six games have pushed MI into unfamiliar WPL territory

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.

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.

Happy Republic Day everyone!

Happy Australia Day if any of you are living in Australia.

Cheers..

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

Kotambi Stadium, Vadodara Pitch Report

The pitch at Kotambi Stadium, Vadodara, generally offers batting-friendly conditions. batters are also able to score freely in. The new ball will help the bowlers in power-play overs. Moreover, there is a strong possibility of dew during the match, making it difficult for the bowlers to bowl in the second inning.

RCB W vs MI W Head to Head T20 Record

Matches Played 8

Won by Royal Challengers Bengaluru Women 4

Won by Mumbai Indians Women 4

Tied 0

No Result 0

First-ever Fixture March 06, 2023

Most Recent Fixture January 09, 2026

In the spotlight: RCB openers vs MI new-ball bowlers

MI have used Shabnim Ismail (15 overs) and Nicola Carey (nine) the most inside the powerplay this season with both returning three wickets apiece. While Ismail has an economy of 5.33 in the first six overs, Carey has gone at 9.33 with Sciver-Brunt, their third-most used bowler, going at 9.42 for her two wickets. In the two games that Matthews has played this year, she has bowled three overs inside the powerplay (economy 15.33). Put RCB as the opponent and MI will be able to see the bright side.

Ismail has dismissed Smriti Mandhana five times in 22 innings (strike rate of 131.20), Grace Harris three times in 15 innings (strike rate 107.40) in T20 cricket. Carey, too has a decent record against the RCB openers: 63 runs, 44 balls, four dismissals in ten innings vs Mandhana and 108 runs, 88 balls, three dismissals in 13 innings versus Harris. Matthews, too, has five dismissals in 23 innings against Mandhana, who strikes her at 120.56. Can MI change their powerplay narrative in WPL 2026?

Key stats

• Mandhana has scored 203 runs in 145 balls against Sciver-Brunt in women's T20s, with Sciver-Brunt dismissing her eight times in 27 innings. Only Ashleigh Gardner has dismissed her more times in T20 cricket.
• Matthews' 16 wickets in the powerplay are the joint second-most with Sciver-Brunt in the WPL
• Richa Ghosh has scored 200 runs at a strike rate of 201.04 at the death in the WPL. Among those with at least 100 runs in overs 17-20, Ghosh's strike rate is second only to Harmanpreet Kaur's 205.73

Today's Match Prediction: Team Bowling first to win the match

Disclaimer

The prediction is based on the understanding, analysis, and instinct of the author. While making your prediction, consider the points mentioned, and make your own decision.

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.

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.