After an electrifying auction, Indian cricket is all set to witness another thrilling season of the Women’s Premier League (WPL 2026). The tournament is scheduled to start from January 9, 2026, with the final on February 5, 2026. All the matches of the tournament will be across Navi Mumbai and Vadodara.
On paper, Royal Challengers Bengaluru Women’s (RCB-W) is looking strong enough to become the next champion of the competition. With Smriti Mandhana as the nucleus of the squad, the franchise officials made some smart buys from the auction. Along with Mandhana, who can be the stand out performers for the team in WPL 2026? After analyzing the team, we’ve made a list of 5 players, who can be the match winners for them.
Top 5 players of RCB-W in WPL 2026:
1. Smriti Mandhana
Mandhana remains as the face of RCB-W’s batting line-up and is very crucial at the top of the order. Her ability to build innings, rotate strike, and change playing style according to the conditions makes her the key performer of RCB’s batting unit. She was retained by the franchise ahead of the 2026 season. It’ll be interesting to see how she will bat after winning the Women’s World Cup 2025.
2. Richa Ghosh
The inclusion of Ghosh in the squad has multiplied the batting power of the team. Her explosive batting in the middle order and quick scoring capabilities, especially in pressure situations makes her special. In the World Cup, Richa was in stunning form and the franchise is hoping to see the form in the league as well. Apart from her batting, her wicketkeeping ability provides more depth in the squad.
3. Ellyse Perry
One of the most complete all-rounders in women’s T20 cricket, Perry’s experience, powerful batting and handy medium-pace bowling make her a consistent match-winner in crucial games. Ahead of the auction, the team management retained her along with Mandhana which showed how the team values the cricketer.
4. Nadine de Klerk:
An interesting addition in the team. She brings more stability and depth with her allround capabilities. Her pace bowling skills and useful lower-order hitting will definitely provide the team some much needed solidity in the lower order. Her versatility can influence games both with ball and bat.
5. Lauren Bell
Young English pacer Lauren Bell was one of RCB’s notable buys at the 2026 auction. Her ability to swing and bowl in the powerplay or death overs adds a new dimension to the RCB bowling attack. She has all the potentials to become the leading face of the team’s blowing department. It’ll be interesting to see, how she can deliver in subcontinent conditions.
RCB-W squad for the WPL 2026 season:
Smriti Mandhana, Richa Ghosh, Ellyse Perry, Shreyanka Patil, Georgia Voll, Nadine de Klerk, Radha Yadav, Lauren Bell, Linsey Smith, Prema Rawat, Arundhati Reddy, Pooja Vastrakar, Grace Harris, Gautami Naik, Prathyoosha Kumar, D. Hemalatha.
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