After almost four weeks of breathtaking, edge-of-the-seat cricket among five teams who gave it their all till the very end, we’re now down to the final two teams who endured everything that was thrown at them and are now just one game away from the coveted title.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will take on the Delhi Capitals (DC) in the final of the 2026 WPL season. For the game, here we present our preview and predictions.
When it was announced that Ellyse Perry, RCB’s star all-rounder, arguably their most important player since the first WPL edition, and one of the best all-rounders in the women’s game, would be withdrawing from the WPL this year, it led to genuine doubts about how the team would cope. Apart from Perry, RCB had also released Kiwi all-rounder Sophie Devine to the auction pool, who was snapped up by the Gujarat Giants. So, without their two very important overseas stars, how would RCB fare?
Turns out, pretty damn spectacularly. RCB started on an absolute heater, winning five games in a row and swatting everyone away with their performances, clinching last-ball thrillers as well as comfortable victories, where they would barely break a sweat.
The 2024 WPL champions confirmed their place in the knockouts in style, and while they did stumble a bit towards the end of the league stage, losing two straight games, they eventually booked themselves a direct seat in the final on the back of a commanding victory against the UP Warriorz, earning in the process a full week’s rest.
The speciality of this RCB team is that they have not been dependent on any one player, with multiple players stepping up as match-winners in different games. Captain Smriti Mandhana, Grace Harris, Lauren Bell, Radha Yadav, Nadine de Klerk, Shreyanka Patil, and Gautami Naik have all played the role of difference-maker in different games, thereby reducing the burden on each other.
The Delhi Capitals, on the other hand, have already made history by becoming the only team to make the WPL final in all four seasons. That is unreal consistency for a side that was almost dead and buried halfway through the season.
Jemimah Rodrigues has led the team astutely, with the players churning out performances when it mattered the most and staying together as a team despite the adversity that surrounded them in the initial stages of the campaign.
The Capitals arguably produced their best performance of the tournament in the Eliminator against the Gujarat Giants, where Lizelle Lee and Shafali Verma made a mockery of what was touted to be a competitive total by the Giants. The one thing that DC were missing was their opening pair firing together, and that is exactly what happened on Tuesday, when Lee and Verma put on 89 runs for the opening partnership in just seven overs.
Captain Rodrigues has also managed to get a few runs under her belt. A brisk knock of 41 off 23 balls in the Eliminator ensures that she enters the final in good nick. After two heartbreaking losses against the same opposition in the league stage, the Eliminator victory is not only a sweet retribution, but it also goes a very long way in strengthening the Capitals’ resolve going into a fourth straight WPL final.
DC will hope that fourth time’s the charm. They have shown the consistency to make another final, but can they take that all-important step and lift the title on Thursday night?
Both teams are deserving of their spot in the final, but we believe that the Royal Challengers are the likelier team to emerge as the winners and win their second WPL title. They are well-rested, and despite the split head-to-head record between them in the league stage, they boast the better bowling attack as well as a more well-rounded squad on paper compared to the Capitals.
That said, expect nothing less than a tough fight from the Capitals, who will be desperate to break their drought in WPL finals.
Fantasy XI: Lizelle Lee (wk), Smriti Mandhana (c), Grace Harris, Laura Wolvaardt, Jemimah Rodrigues (vc), Richa Ghosh, Radha Yadav, Marizanne Kapp, Nandani Sharma, Shreyanka Patil, Lauren Bell
Venue: Vadodara International Stadium, Kotambi
Winners Prediction: Royal Challengers Bengaluru
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