WPL 2026: Gautami comes in for Prema as RCB elect to bowl against UPW
Navi Mumbai, Jan 12
Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the toss and elected to field against UP Warriorz in the fifth match of the Women's Premier League 2026 at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai on Monday. RCB included Gautami Naik in place of Prema Rawat, as the Warriorz have fielded the same playing XI as in the last match.
RCB captain Smriti Mandhana said, "We would like to field first today. We have seen dew coming in the latter half of the innings. The first match worked well for us. DY Patil has been a big chasing ground. Yesterday, DC could have chased that total down. Any total isn't good enough at DY Patil Stadium. It's always easy to know as a batting unit how much you are gonna get.
"Nadine (de Klerk) got us through in both departments, but in the tournaments like these, some players are going to stand out in some matches. It's about contribution, and we all really want to contribute in the top order as well. Looking forward to having new match winners in every match. We have one change, Gautami comes in for Prema," said Mandhana.
UP Warriorz captain Meg Lanning said, "We were going to have a chase as well, but the teams batting first have games this season. Regardless, we have to bat well. Hopefully, we do well with the bat, get off a good start, and post a good score. We did a lot of things right. We chased well. Kept ourselves in the game. We also bowled well in some patches. Good signs. Hopefully, we can take some confidence into this game. Having said that, we spent a good week together. Hopefully, we can improve a bit tonight and get a win. Same side tonight."
Playing XIs:
UP Warriorz Women: Kiran Prabhu Navgire, Meg Lanning (c), Phoebe Litchfield, Shweta Sehrawat (wk), Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Sophie Ecclestone, Deandra Dottin, Kranti Gaud, Asha Shobana, Shikha Pandey
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Women: Grace Harris, Smriti Mandhana (c), Dayalan Hemalatha, Richa Ghosh (wk), Radha Yadav, Nadine de Klerk, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, Linsey Smith, Lauren Bell, Gautami Naik.
— IANS
Reader Comments
Interesting change. Prema wasn't looking in great touch last match, so giving Gautami a chance makes sense. But our batting needs to fire more consistently. Too much reliance on Smriti and Richa.
UPW's batting looks solid on paper with Lanning, Litchfield, and our own Deepti Sharma! Hope Harleen Deol gets some runs today. UP zaalim team hai, but RCB is strong too. Exciting match! 🏏
Good to see more Indian players getting opportunities like Gautami. WPL is doing wonders for our women's cricket depth. Hope she grabs her chance with both hands!
Respectfully, I think the constant chopping and changing of the XI, especially for young Indian players, can hurt their confidence. Prema gets one game, Gautami gets the next. Need a bit more patience.
Watching from Australia. Lanning vs. Mandhana is always a great captaincy duel. The WPL standard keeps getting better. Hope for a high-scoring thriller!
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