WPL, RCB look to build on momentum against UPW: Preview
What's the story
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will be looking to build on their recent success when they take on UP Warriorz in the Women's Premier League (WPL) match on Monday at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Navi Mumbai. The Smriti Mandhana-led team stunned Mumbai Indians with a last-ball victory in their opening match. Meanwhile, UPW lost their high-scoring opener against Gujarat Giants. Here is the preview of match number five of WPL 2026.
Team dynamics
RCB's performance and expectations for upcoming match
South African all-rounder Nadine de Klerk was the star of RCB's win against MI, taking four wickets and scoring an unbeaten 63 runs off 44 balls. Mandhana, along with her top-order batters Dayalan Hemalatha, Richa Ghosh, and Radha Yadav, will have to step up. In the bowling department, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, and Radha are expected to do better than their last outing against MI, where they conceded a lot of runs.
Player spotlight
UP Warriorz seek redemption
UPW will be hoping for a turnaround from their star all-rounder Deepti Sharma, who had a poor all-round outing against GG. Despite being the most expensive Indian buy at ₹3.2 crore in the WPL auction, she failed to make an impact in her team's 10-run defeat on Saturday. Notably, the Warriorz did well to post 197/8 while chasing 208 against the Giants. Phoebe Litchfield smashed 78. Lanning (30), Shweta Sehrawat (25), and Asha Sobhana (27*) also played handy knocks.
Line-ups
Here are the probable XIs
RCB probable XI: Smriti Mandhana (c), Grace Harris, Dayalan Hemalatha, Richa Ghosh (wk), Radha Yadav, Nadine de Klerk, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, Prema Rawat, Linsey Smith, Lauren Bell. UPW probable XI: Kiran Navgire, Meg Lanning (c), Phoebe Litchfield, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Deandra Dottin, Shikha Pandey, Shweta Sehrawat (wk), Sophie Ecclestone, Asha Sobhana, Kranti Gaud.
Information
Here's the pitch report and H2H record
The DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai is known for assisting batters. With dew present, teams batting 2nd will find more joy. There will be some assistance for quick bowlers with the new ball. In terms of the head-to-head record, the Challengers and the Warriorz are 3-3 from six meetings.
Performers
Here are the key performers
Litchfield's 78 in her team's opener was the 5th-highest individual score for UPW in WPL. With 982 runs from 28 matches at 39.28, Lanning is the second-highest run-scorer in WPL history. De Klerk's heroics in the opener made her the second player in WPL to clock 50+ runs and four+ wickets in a WPL match. In the high-scoring opener, RCB's Lauren Bell went for just 14 runs in her four overs (1 wicket).