Star South African all-rounder Nadine de Klerk has said that if a player realises it is his or her day, he or she would need to cash in and make the best of the situation, after Nadine de Klerk played a match-winning role in taking the Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a thrilling win against defending champions Mumbai Indians in WPL 2026.
Nadine De Klerk starred with the ball and bat, taking four wickets for 26 runs to help Bengaluru restrict Mumbai to just 154/6 after electing to field. She then sealed a thrilling win with an unbeaten 63 off 44 deliveries, including seven boundaries and two sixes, in a dramatic run chase.
Chasing 155, Bengaluru found themselves 137/7, needing 18 from the final over. Nadine De Klerk smacked a six and a boundary off the third and fourth deliveries, leaving just eight runs required from the last two balls.
Pitch Report and Toss
Pitch Report : It is beautiful. It is nice and calm. In terms of the weather, not too hot either, which is good for us Kiwis coming over here. In terms of the dimensions, it’s actually quite a decent hit down the ground – 66 metres. Really, really short behind me. But in terms of square of the wicket, there’s definitely one side hitting into the leg side, which is only 53 metres, which most batters will love. 61 to the offside. So maybe some things to think about for captains in terms of their selections and where they want to bowl.
If you look at the wicket, this is made of red soil and it is rolled really well. It is pretty hard, but there is a decent amount of grass covering, and that is to bind the wicket together. It will help the seamers initially with the new ball. There will be some movement off the wicket, but otherwise it’s an out-and-out.
You can expect a high-scoring game and it can also be chased down. In the World Cup also we’ve seen the dew here, and there will be dew because this is early in the year, in January. There will be a good amount of dew, and that is why I think it will influence the decision at the toss. The wicket is so good for the batters. Every shot is worth the money, as long as they’re playing through the line. A total of 200 is up there. – reckons Katey Martin and Mithali Raj.
Toss : Royal Challengers Bengaluru(RCB Women) skipper Smriti Mandhana won the toss and chose to field with 4 overseas players Grace Harris, Nadine de Klerk, Lauren Bell, and Linsey Smith in the Playing XI. Mumbai Indians Women skipper Harmanpreet Kaur batting first will miss the services of Hayley Matthews in the Playing XI.
Nadine De Klerk’s 4-fer restricts MI-Women to 154 for 6 in 20 overs
Put in to bat first, Mumbai were helped to a competitive 154/6 after a sluggish start. MI’s top-order struggled to find rhythm against a disciplined RCB bowling attack. Lauren Bell, on RCB debut, sent down 11 dots in her first-two overs with Amelia Kerr especially struggling to get off the mark. Early wickets, including the cheap dismissals of Nat Sciver-Brunt and Kerr, left MI reeling.
Lauren Bell set the tone early with a spell of high-class swing bowling. Kerr, opening in Hayley Matthews’ absence due to an illness, was beaten eight times in her first ten deliveries as she failed to combat Bell’s late outswing. She finally scraped off the mark only off her 11th ball. Bell was trusted with a third over in the powerplay and she finished the job by sending back Kerr with a hard-length delivery she sliced to cover, making 4 off 15. Bell’s figures of 4-1-14-1 underlined just how much she had suffocated MI.
Kamalini briefly dazzled, as did Harmanpreet. If the short-arm jab in front of square off Bell was a teaser, the lofted inside-out hit over extra cover off Shreyanka Patil was blockbuster. The signs were ominous, but a hack off Nadine de Klerk saw Harmanpreet nick one to Richa Ghosh to leave MI 67 for 4 in 11 overs.
Captain Harmanpreet Kaur showed glimpses of her trademark power with 20 off 17 balls, going past Shafali Verma (865) as the league’s leading domestic run-getter. It was new opener G Kamalini who held one end up amidst the early jitters, scoring a fine 32. Mumbai looked in danger of finishing with a sub-par total at 80/4 when Harmanpreet fell, but S Sajana and Carey put on a record partnership to bail the team out.
Promoted ahead of the more accomplished Amanjot Kaur, Sajana survived two chances in as many overs – first by D Hemalatha at midwicket, then by substitute Sayali Satghare at mid-off. At the other end, the pressure was mounting on debutant Nicola Carey, who limped to 14 off 14. MI needed to flick a switch, and Sajana did.
Radha’s left-arm spin was taken for 15 in the 15th over. Then, she clinically took down Nadine de Klerk when she returned for her third by using long levers and brute force to muscle big hits in the arc between long-on and deep midwicket for three fours. Overs 14-17 fetched MI 41, and they were back on the move.
Between them, Carey, all timing, and Sajana, gloriously agricultural, contributed 85 to ensure MI would make a match of it, which they did, only to be pipped at the finish line.
The 82 runs they added together, in just 49 deliveries, is the highest stand for fifth wicket (or lower) for the franchise. The duo, aided by the setting dew, helped shift the momentum dramatically in the final seven overs. Sajana was particularly destructive, smashing 45 off just 25 deliveries, finding the boundary with ease across both sides of the wicket.
Carey played the perfect foil, rotating the strike and finding gaps to ensure the pressure stayed on the bowlers. Their counter-attacking stand ensured Mumbai added over 69 runs in the last-six to push the total past the 150 mark. Nadine De Klerk was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with an impressive 4/26 from her four overs including removing the well-set Sajana and Carey in the final over.
Nadine De Klerk’s blitzkrieg of 63* runs off 48 balls powers RCB Women to 3-wicket win in a opening thriller.
Contrary to the hosts, RCB’s PowerPlay was more explosive with Smriti Mandhana’s new opening partner Grace Harris setting the tone early. The duo put on 40 runs in just 23 balls to get the chase underway in style before they fell in quick succession. Nonetheless, RCB posted a solid 57/2 from their first-six.
But, it quickly unraveled thereafter. Amanjot Kaur came into the attack and took just four balls to make an impact, trapping D Hemalatha LBW for just 7 off 12. At the other end, Amelia Kerr struck a double blow in her first over of the night – cleaning up Radha Yadav, in at no. 5 for RCB, and then getting the destructive Richa Ghosh caught in the deep for a run-a-ball six three balls later.
She couldn’t lay bat on ball earlier in the game, but Kerr’s wickets of Radha Yadav and the dangerous Richa Ghosh in quick succession left RCB – playing a batter short – gasping at 65 for 5 in the eighth over. RCB’s fiery start – they hit seven fours and a six in the first three overs alone – courtesy Grace Harris and Smriti Mandhana, was suddenly being undone. It needed a 52-run partnership from Nadine de Klerk and Arundhati Reddy – who made 20 off 25 – to bring RCB’s chase back within the realms of possibility, before Nadine de Klerk cut loose.
The collapse of 5 for 25 would have had RCB rethinking their XI that was considerably short on frontline batting options. Unlike MI’s sixth-wicket pair that went on the offensive early, RCB’s took their time getting their eye in. After 20 boundary-less deliveries, a desperate review from Arundhati Reddy saved her on 7 before her partner Nadine de Klerk decided to switch gears.
The sixth-wicket pair took on Saika Ishaque, who conceded three boundaries and 13 overall in her first over. MI responded by bowling out Kerr to stem the flow, and the New Zealand leg-spinner finished with an excellent 2 for 13, leaving RCB 38 to get from the final 24 balls.
The 52-run partnership, however, was broken right at the onset of the death overs with Reddy holing out to Kerr and giving Carey her maiden wicket for MI. The allrounder capped off a fine all-round display by cleaning up Shreyanka Patil for just one to put her team in the driving seat.
With RCB down to 121/7 at the end of the 17th over, the writing, it felt, was on the wall. Exactly then the death-overs jitters started to show. Nadine De Klerk was dropped twice and got a run-out reprieve in the penultimate over sent down by Shabnim Ismail that Prema Rawat closed off the over with a boundary hit to bring it down to manageable 18 off the last-six.
Two dots upfront in the 20th again swung the momentum in MI’s favour. But just as time, and deliveries, seemed to be running out, Nadine de Klerk flipped the script by taking Sciver-Brunt to the cleaners with 6,4,6,4 to complete the heist in style.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Harmanpreet Kaur the losing MI Women skipper said : Well, we know that she (de Klerk) has the capacity to score whatever runs are needed in the last over. But yeah, I think we just didn’t bowl one good ball, which was needed in the last over. Sometimes this happens. We gave her two or three chances and when you keep giving a batter chances, they always come back with an even stronger mindset.
So yeah, we can’t say the last over didn’t go our way – we got a few chances, but we missed them. (what they could have done differently?) I think one good ball in the last over – that’s all. Otherwise, I think we were in the game. We did everything that was needed to win this match, but except for that last over. If we could have bowled one good ball, we could have won the match.
Well, in the WPL, we always get matches like this. And we know that if we keep thinking about this game, it’s not going to help us tomorrow. So I think we just need to learn from this match and think about how we can do better in the next one. Yeah, in the first innings, I think we didn’t get a good start in the powerplay.
Hopefully, in the next match, we’ll sit together and discuss how we want to go about it. Initially, it wasn’t that easy to bat on this pitch. Later on, it kept getting better and better. Now we know the pitch, we know how the conditions are going to be and hopefully in the next match we’ll execute better.
Smriti Mandhana the winning RCB Women skipper said : Yeah, I think for the first match of the WPL, it was a thriller. And RCB are known to play thrillers. Last year, we were on the receiving end of these matches, so happy that we pulled it off. Brilliant from Nadine to finish the match like that. Everyone was pretty positive. We were having a laugh. Even when things were not going well, everyone was pretty positive.
I think everything we can say now because we won – it’s easier. But yeah, otherwise as well, the preparations have been really nice. Everyone’s looking really, really good. Nadine (de Klerk) did all the work for us in the bowling and the batting department. (what is it between Nadine de Klerk and India?) Yeah, we saw that in Visakhapatnam when she played that innings against us.
And I was just telling our head coach, Malolan, that I think we were in a similar situation against South Africa in the World Cup match, and she pulled it off. And I think when she got dropped, we just said that when we dropped, Sajana got runs – let’s hope she gets two sixes. And she actually got them. So sometimes what you say happens, which is fine. But really happy that we got the two points.
Nadine De Klerk Player of the Match for her all round brilliance 4-wickets and 63 runs said : Look, it’s probably going to take a couple of days (to sink in). I guess with cricket sometimes if it’s your day, you just have to make sure that you cash in. Obviously lucky with a few chances going my way, just glad we got over the line. It’s always great to start with a win. I think it’s just about coming in and really backing your skills and trying to execute.
I think obviously we started really well with Bell and the other bowlers in the powerplay. I think she bowled exceptional. So it was probably just for us to come in and try and back that up. Like I said, it’s just kind of sticking to my strengths. Sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn’t. I think I was probably a little frustrated, to be honest, at the beginning of my innings. I really struggled to get it away.
But I just say, with every batter that I bat with, cricket is a funny game. You just have to stay in the fight. I guess it’s just a massive mentality thing; never give up. T20 cricket especially, we know on these grounds it’s very good batting wickets, not the biggest boundaries, so you know you can cash in. It was just about giving myself a chance out there, and luckily it came off today.
I think probably towards the back end I was thinking about taking the bulk of the strike. But I think there were a few very important partnerships earlier. I think Arundhati (Reddy) batted beautifully, and then Prema came in and hit a few nice boundaries to take a little bit of pressure off me, which made my life a little easier. So I guess in that last over I was probably going to try and keep it on myself and try and win us that game.
Nadine de Klerk continued to prove her mettle as a supreme white-ball finisher, smashing a sensational 63 not out to pip defending champions Mumbai Indians in a last-ball thriller at the DY Patil Stadium on the opening night of WPL 2026. Backing up her 4 for 26 with the ball to restrict the two-time champions to 154/6, the South African clobbered 20 off the final four deliveries – when RCB needed 18 – to get her side off to a winning start in the tournament’s fourth edition, despite having been 65/5 at one stage.
Nadine de Klerk’s sensational late onslaught, eerily reminiscent of the heist that turned the tables on India at the 2025 ODI World Cup, catapulted RCB to a sensational opening-night win over defending champions Mumbai Indians at the DY Patil Stadium. That Nadine de Klerk pulled it off without Smriti Mandhana, Grace Harris or Richa Ghosh – all gone inside eight overs with RCB still needing 90 – made it even more sensational.
Needing 18 off the final over, Nadine de Klerk played out two dot balls, before going 6,4,6 to bring the equation down to 2 off 1. Then with the field in to save the single, she backed away to drill Nat Sciver-Brunt back over the bowler to clinch an improbable win. Nadine De Klerk finished 63 not out along with her 4 for 26 to deliver an MVP performance that left the opponents shell shocked. Harmanpreet Kaur could only muster a wry smile that conveyed more than words could. For her, it was deja vu all over again.
Phew! RCB were down and out at 65/5. They were down and out when Arundhati fell straight after the 16th over time-out. They were down and out when the equation became 29 off 12. They were down and out again when 18 was needed from the final over. But one thing we’ve learnt lately – when Nadine de Klerk is at the crease, no equation is impossible.
Grace Harris and Smriti Mandhana gave RCB a flying start, but once that opening stand was broken, the innings lost its way. With half the side back in the pavilion, MI were firmly on top. Nadine De Klerk and Arundhati then rebuilt with a crucial 50-run partnership, but Arundhati’s dismissal in the 17th over left it all on Nadine de Klerk’s shoulders.
Prema Rawat chipped in with a couple of handy boundaries, but the chase was all about Nadine de Klerk. Calm, calculated and brutally powerful, she carried RCB over the line. MI will rue the dropped chances off her in the 19th over – opportunities that could have sealed the game, but slipped through the hands of experienced campaigners like Sciver-Brunt and Kerr under pressure.
From an entertainment point of view, you couldn’t have asked for a better start to WPL 2026. The contest ebbed and flowed all night, with both sides taking control at different stages, only for the other to fight back. In the end, it was Nadine de Klerk who had the final say. The South African produced a breathtaking knock to snatch victory from MI’s grasp.
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