Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) cruised into the Women’s Premier League 2026 (WPL 2026) final after a commanding eight-wicket win against UP Warriorz on Thursday, January 29 at the BCA Stadium, Kotambi, Vadodara. It was Grace Harris’ all-round brilliance along with Nadine de Klerk’s phenomenal display with the ball that saw RCB book their place in their second WPL final.
Harris continued to torment UP with her willow and registered her second half-century of the season against them. She played a fighting innings of 75 (37), studded with 13 fours and two sixes, and was involved in a massive 108 off just 55 balls with skipper Smriti Mandhana for the first wicket. The RCB skipper also scored a valuable unbeaten 54* (27) with the help of eight fours and two sixes as she steered her team to 144 down in just 13.1 overs.
Earlier, Harris also contributed with the ball, scalping two wickets for 22 runs in her three overs. However, it was Nadine de Klerk who dominated the bowling charts and recorded her best figures in WPL history (4/22). The right-arm seamer first dismissed the well-set Meg Lanning (41 off 30) to end the 74-run stand between her and Deepti Sharma.
WPL 2026: RCB-W vs UPW Match 18 Highlights
She then trapped Amy Jones lbw in the same over to trigger the collapse. De Klerk also dismissed Simran Shaikh (10 off 11) and Sophie Ecclestone (0 off 1) in her final over to finish with four wickets. Her performance saw her become RCB’s highest wicket-taking bowler in a single edition of the WPL, surpassing Shreyanka Patil’s 13 wickets from their title-winning season in 2024.
Her performance also helped Nadine become the joint-highest wicket-taker in the current season with 15 wickets from eight innings.
Meanwhile, after their victory, RCB maintained their top position in the points table with six wins from eight matches to collect 12 points. On the other hand, UP continued to languish at the bottom of the points table with two wins from seven games and four points to their name.
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Issued by:
Rishabh Beniwal
Published on:
January 29, 2026
