'She's not letting anyone touch the ball' - Lauren Bell goes dot dot dot

Smriti Mandhana, stationed at mid-off, was awestruck, and quickly turned to the big screen to her right to watch the replay. Lauren Bell had just bowled a length ball that pitched on middle and leg, and devilishly swung away from Harleen Deol. It was bowled from a wider angle, which made the wicketkeeper move to her left first. Richa Ghosh had to stop and spring in the opposite direction to keep up with the devilish outswinger. It was Bell's fastest ball of the night till then at 111.6kph.

For a second game running in WPL 2026, Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) bowling in the powerplay set the tone for their early control, and eventually a win, against UP Warriorz (UPW). Bell, playing for the first time in the tournament, has been its architect.

Her modus operandi has been simple: bowl the outswinger, on a good length, and let the ball's unpredictable path do the rest. The result? A total of 27 dot balls out of the 36 she has bowled in the powerplay thus far, which is 75%. Mumbai Indians' (MI) Shabnim Ismail comes close with 72.22% (26 dots out of 36 balls).

"I was just joking around how she's going to get the plants back home," RCB captain Mandhana said at the presentation, referencing the WPL title sponsor's campaign of planting 500 trees per dot ball. "In the last two matches, she is not letting anyone touch the ball in the first three overs. I feel she can continue doing that and set the tone for us."

Bell was part of UPW in the previous cycle but did not play a game. She has not only put her recent experience of playing the ODI World Cup in India to use but also worked on controlling the outswing and pitching it the way she wants. Amelia Kerr found out the hard way in the season opener, where she could not lay bat to ball for the first five balls, playing out a maiden.

On Monday, it was Meg Lanning's turn. Bell already had the upper hand leading into the match up - 12 runs, 23 balls, one wicket - and managed four dots in six balls. She started the game with a shortish ball that pushed Lanning back. Then she bowled the full away swinger outside off; Lanning's weight was on the back foot but she went for the drive and was beaten. UPW had tweaked their opening combination by sending Deol, instead of Kiran Navgire who had partnered Lanning in their first match, to counterattack Bell. Deol faced seven dots in nine balls against Bell, including an aerial slice to mid-off that ended her stay.

As per ESPNcricinfo logs, RCB have pounded the length and short-of-good-length area 56 times in the powerplay this season, with 35 dots. Bell has led the charge, bowling 22 dots from 28 such deliveries. The opposition have truly felt the squeeze with MI ending the powerplay on 34 for 1, while UPW only faring marginally better at 36 for 1.

"It's been good. I feel in a very good rhythm and it seems to be coming out nicely," Bell told the broadcaster after the match. One thing we identified was that I want to start the game and set the tone. It's not been something that I have nailed, especially for England. I've had a couple of months back home to practice and really groove this away swinger. I'm glad that I can come and set the tone early."

Gaining an upper hand in early exchanges doesn't guarantee much in T20 cricket. But in two games, RCB have benefited from their powerplay bowling so much that even after they leaked 42 and 41 at the death (17-20) against UPW and MI respectively - the fourth- and joint fifth-most expensive back-end performances out of nine this season - they were able to restrict oppositions to gettable totals.

Mandhana, and Bell, would know it won't always be this way.