WPL 2026: Kerr In, Carey Out as RCB Bowl First vs MI in Crucial Clash

RCB have already qualified for the playoffs, though their winning streak came to a halt against DC. Meanwhile, MI, with two wins from six games, remain in playoff contention thanks to a stronger net run rate. The sides met earlier in the opening game of the competition when RCB edged past MI on the last ball at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.

After winning the toss, RCB skipper Smriti Mandhana said her playing eleven is unchanged. "Dew has been a big factor at Baroda, and the wicket has played differently in almost every match. As a batting unit, it's good to know what to expect. A lot of learnings, especially around batting, understanding and assessing situations quickly as a top order, and knowing what our par score is, and that's going to be extremely important going forward in the tournament.

"Of course, we also need to field and bowl in the right areas, which we did extremely well in the first five matches. There was a bump in the road last game, but we'd like to rectify those mistakes.

"We've had a little experience over the last 10 days, but you can't come prepared, assuming the wicket will play a certain way because it's been different every game. We'll have to see how the first couple of overs go, assess it, get together, and communicate well with each other," she said.

Meanwhile, Amelia replaces Nicola, who picked up a niggle while batting against DC and was able to bowl just one over. "Looking at the conditions and how previous matches have gone, we wanted to bowl first. But whatever comes our way, it's a very important match for us.

"Playing with a positive approach is the key today; that's more important. We spent some really good quality time together and had very productive meetings. Hopefully, whatever we discussed and trained on over the last few days, we'll execute it out there. It's an important game, we're going with our best eleven, and hopefully we'll play positive cricket," she said.

Playing XIs:

Mumbai Indians: Sajeevan Sajana, Hayley Matthews, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Amelia Kerr, Amanjot Kaur, Sanskriti Gupta, Poonam Khemnar, Rahila Firdous (wk), Shabnim Ismail, and Vaishnavi Sharma

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Grace Harris, Smriti Mandhana (captain), Georgia Voll, Gautami Naik, Richa Ghosh (wk), Radha Yadav, Nadine de Klerk, Sayali Satghare, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, and Lauren Bell

- IANS