Matthews out due to illness as RCB opt to bowl against MI in WPL 2026 opener

Toss Royal Challengers Bengaluru chose to bowl vs Mumbai Indians

Smriti Mandhana called correctly as Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) elected to field first in the opening match of WPL 2026 against defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) at the DY Patil Stadium. She cited dew as one of the major factors behind her decision.

The Ellyse Perry-less RCB handed as many as six debuts - three of those being their new overseas recruits: allrounder Grace Harris, fast bowler Lauren Bell and left-arm spinner Linsey Smith. The fourth overseas player, Nadine de Klerk, played one game in their title-winning campaign in 2024.

RCB's squad was loaded with as many as five allrounders, leaving them light on batting. Richa Ghosh was listed to bat at No. 4 and Radha Yadav at five. Mandhana aside, the only other pure batter in the mix was D Hemalatha, who previously represented Gujarat Giants.

MI were without the unwell Hayley Matthews. They instead handed a maiden cap to Australia allrounder Nicola Carey, with Nat Sciver-Brunt, Amelia Kerr and Shabnim Ismail being their other overseas players.

Matthews' absence means they'll also likely have a brand new opening pairing. Teenage sensation and Under-19 World Cup winner G Kamalini, who made her India debut last month, was slotted in to open with Sciver-Brunt on the team sheet.

Poonam Khemnar, the hard-hitting batter who previously represented UP Warriorz, was MI's other debutant besides Carey.

Mumbai Indians: 1 Nat Sciver-Brunt, 2 G Kamalini (wk), 3 Amelia Kerr, 4 Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), 5 Amanjot Kaur, 6 Nicola Carey, 7 Poonam Khemnar, 8 S Sajana, 9 Sanskriti Gupta, 10 Shabnim Ismail, 11 Saika Ishaque

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 1 Smriti Mandhana (capt), 2 Grace Harris, 3 D Hemalatha, 4 Richa Ghosh (wk), 5 Radha Yadav, 6 Nadine de Klerk, 7 Arundhati Reddy, 8 Shreyanka Patil, 9 Prema Rawat, 10 Linsey Smith, 11 Lauren Bell