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New Delhi: Nadine de Klerk lit up the Women's Premier League 2026 opening match in Navi Mumbai as Royal Challengers Bengaluru pulled off a heist against Mumbai Indians at the DY Patil Stadium on Friday night. Bengaluru needed 90 runs to win at the fall of their fifth wicket but Klerk played an unbeaten knock of 63 runs to help the side pull off a miraculous chase.
The target of 18 runs achieved by RCB is the second most in the final over of a WPL game, only behind 19 by UPW vs GG in Navi Mumbai in 2023. No team has successfully chased as many for the last five wickets in a WPL game. Meanwhile chasing a modest score of 155 runs, RCB lost the track initially with quick fall of wickets.
Grace Harris and skipper Smriti Mandhana scored 25 and 18 runs respectively at the beginning but after they went back to the pavilion, the Bengaluru side started to lose the plot in the chase. A constant fall of four to five wickets derailed their proceedings but Klerk took the responsibility on her shoulders to take the side home on the last ball.
She smashed as many as seven fours and two sixes with Arundhati Reddy playing a part in the tough chase with a score of 20 runs. It was one of the most exciting starts in the WPL history.
Mumbai bowler Amelia Kerr became the highest wicket-taker in the history of WPL as she completed 42 scalps surpassing Hayley Mathews' record of 41 scalps in the history of the tournament. Kerr registered figures of 2 for 13 while Nicola Carey also claimed two wickets but all the efforts went in vain.
Earlier, Sajeevan Sajana (45) and Nicola Carey (40) produced a fantastic rescue effort to help Mumbai Indians (MI) put up a modest first innings total on the board against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the opening match of the Women's Premier League 2026.
In the opening encounter at the Navi Mumbai stadium on Friday, Bengaluru bowlers showcased class to push the Mumbai side against the wall in the first ten overs but both Sajana and Carey displayed calmness to help the side score 154/6 in the stipulated 20 overs. Mumbai were struggling at 67 for 4 in the 11th over when both the batters started the rescue mission taking the team to considerable position.
