RCB aim to bounce back, book WPL final berth vs depleted UP Warriorz

Vadodara: Table-toppers Royal Challengers Bengaluru will look to make amends with the bat after two consecutive defeats and lock their berth in the final when they take on a depleted UP Warriorz in the Women's Premier League, here on Thursday.

RCB (10 points) are the only team confirmed for the WPL playoffs so far and a victory over UPW will seal a top-two finish in the points table along with a berth in the final.

On their part, facing an uphill task to remain in playoffs contention, UPW have been rocked by an injury to their leading run-getter Phoebe Litchfield (243 runs). Amy Jones has been named the replacement.


There's still work to be done for the Smriti Mandhana-led side who notched up five wins on the trot to emerge head and shoulders above the rest, but two defeats since have indeed jolted their campaign.

RCB lost to Delhi Capitals when a collective batting failure resulted in a seven-wicket hammering.

The 2024 edition's winners were then headed for another heavy loss to Mumbai Indians on a benign wicket, slipping to 35/5 in a tall run-chase but Richa Ghosh's explosive 50-ball 90 reduced the margin to a significant limit.

MI came out firing on all cylinders, riding Nat Sciver-Brunt's first-ever century of the tournament's history to set a 200-run target for RCB.

In process, MI also exposed the RCB bowlers particularly during a phase wherein England captain and Hayley Matthews unleashed a flurry of boundaries while adding 131 runs, making the bowlers look clueless.

Lauren Bell (11 wickets) thus would have a lot dependent on her but she would need the likes of Sayali Satghare (8) and Nadine de Klerk (11) to come up with better execution.

For the bottom-placed UP Warriorz, it is a do-or-die situation now as they also depend on the outcome of other matches to make it to the final three.

UPW have only two wins and four points to show from six matches along with a poor NRR of -0.769, which means they are also required to record wins by big margins to cover the lost ground.

Unlike the other four teams, UPW have two more games in hand - versus RCB and DC - to make one final push and get to eight points, but they will also need Gujarat Giants to beat Mumbai Indians.

In case GG lose to MI, the equation will come down to teams being ranked on basis of their NRR and this is where UPW will have to improvise.

A lot will thus hinge on captain Lanning (207) and Indian star Harleen Deol (150), while UPW will have to fill in the void created by the exit of Litchfield at the top.

They will also hope the spin pair of Sophie Ecclestone (6 wickets) and Deepti Sharma (5) are able to contain RCB batters.

Teams (from)

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Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Smriti Mandhana (c), Richa Ghosh (wk), Dayalan Hemalatha, Prathyoosha Kumar (wk), Georgia Voll, Nadine de Klerk, Grace Harris, Gautami Naik, Shreyanka Patil, Sayali Satghare, Lauren Bell, Arundhati Reddy, Prema Rawat, Linsey Smith, Pooja Vastrakar and Radha Yadav.

UP Warriorz: Meg Lanning (c), Harleen Deol, Shipra Giri (wk), Phoebe Litchfield, Kiran Navgire, Pratika Rawal, Simran Shaikh, Gongadi Trisha, Deandra Dottin, Charli Knott, Shikha Pandey, Shweta Sehrawat, Deepti Sharma, Asha Sobhana, Chloe Tryon, Sophie Ecclestone, Kranti Gaud and Suman Meena.

Match starts at 7.30pm.