WPL 2026 Final: How Did Smriti Mandhana’s RCB Defeat DC to Clinch the Second Title?

Smriti Mandhana-led Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) successfully clinched the second Women’s Premier League (WPL) title with a six-wicket win over the Delhi Capitals in the final at the Kotambi Cricket Stadium in Vadodara on Thursday, February 5.

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With a mammoth 204-run target by the Capitals, the Royal Challengers chased it down with two balls to spare in the final over of the match. Skipper Smriti Mandhana led the batting with a captain’s knock of 87 off 41 balls, including 12 fours and 3 sixes, at an impressive strike rate of 212.20. Australian batter Georgia Voll played a crucial innings of 79 off 54 balls, including 14 fours, at a strike rate of 146.30.

For Delhi Capitals, skipper Jemimah Rodrigues played a captain’s innings of 57 off 37 balls, while Laura Wolvaardt (44), Lizelle Lee (37), and Chinelle Henry (35*) guided the four-time finalist to a commanding total of 203/4. However, the Capitals’ bowling unit failed to defend the total under pressure, as RCB’s top-order kept the required run-rate under check.

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RCB Pull Off Victory Despite Mini-Collapse

In a 204-run chase, Royal Challengers Bengaluru suffered an early setback with the dismissal of Grace Harris for 9 at 9/1. Thereafter, Smriti Mandhana was joined by Georgia Voll to carry on RCB’s run chase. The pair was involved in a crucial partnership that steadied RCB’s chase while keeping the run chase consistently under control.

While Mandhana led the charge with an aggressive and attacking strokeplay, accelerating RCB’s run chase post powerplay, Voll was providing a solid support to the skipper by y rotating the strike efficiently and finding boundaries at regular intervals. The pair shared a record 165-run stand for the second wicket before Voll’s dismissal at 174/2. At the time of Georgia Voll’s dismissal, RCB needed 30 off 21 balls, and Mandhana was still at the crease.

However, RCB suffered a mini-collapse with dismissals of Richa Ghosh (6) and Mandhana, and they were reduced to 191/4, needing 13 runs off 8 balls to win the match. The onus was left to Nadine de Klerk to chase down the target. However, it was Radha Yadav who finished the chase for Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Needing 8 runs off 4 balls to win the match, Radha smashed two successive fours to take the team past the finishing line with two balls to spare, sealing a six-wicket victory and their second Women’s Premier League title.

With this victory, Royal Challengers Bengaluru became the second team, after the Mumbai Indians, to win two WPL titles. In fact, Bengaluru and Mumbai are the teams to have won the Women’s Premier League title, making them the competition’s only champions so far.

‘Ee Saala Cup Namdu Again’

Royal Challengers Bengaluru fans could not contain their excitement and joy after the women’s team clinched the second title, making them the joint-most successful team in the history of the Women’s Premier League.

Taking to their X handle (formerly Twitter), RCB fans and cricket enthusiasts hailed the team’s title triumph, lavished praise on match-winning knocks by Smriti Mandhana and Georgia Voll, and revived the popular “Ee Saala Cup Namdu Again” chant following the historic win.

While others backed the RCB men’s team to secure four titles for the franchise as a whole by defending their IPL triumph from last year in the upcoming edition of the tournament.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru became the first team to hold the IPL and WPL titles simultaneously, underlining the franchise’s dominance across both the men’s and women’s competitions.

RCB women’s team was quite dominant throughout the WPL 2026, finishing at the top of the points table with six wins and two losses, and accumulated 12 points from eight outings. As the table toppers, the Smriti Mandhana-led side directly qualified for the final, where they went on to defeat Delhi Capitals to clinch the title.