Mandhana and Rodrigues chill out before WPL final

"Chill maaro" was the buzzword on the eve of the WPL 2026 final in Vadodara. Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues, best friends for life, were now opposing captains in the grand finale for the second time in three seasons.

Rodrigues will have played three games in five days by Thursday night, with Delhi Capitals having taken the longer road to the final. But between matches, Rodrigues revealed how she simply "let go" to rediscover her fluency and take her mind off from the pressures of not just having to perform, but also lead.

"I think I was doing one thing; I was trying way too hard," Rodrigues said. "And the last two games, I just let go. I let go, backed myself, didn't even go and practice because I was practicing so hard, trying to hit every ball perfectly and get everything right.

"Then I was like, you know what? I remember one of the interviews I heard. It's like the butterfly, the more desperate you are, the further it goes away. But the more you just let go, it comes and sits on your shoulder. And that's what I did. And I'm happy it's coming. It's coming off well."

In Tuesday's Eliminator, Rodrigues brought out her animated avatar on the field, and calm avatar with the bat. The 41 off 23 balls was a result of switching off, instead of being too intense about trying to perfect every drill, nail every shot.

Mandhana and RCB are coming off a mini-break in Goa's beaches. Players were left to do what they liked. Some partied, some enjoyed the sun, some played golf. Some, like Shreyanka Patil and Radha Yadav, danced. Mandhana soaked all of this in.

"Yeah, it was very important," Mandhana said of the break. "Six days of thinking about cricket, who's going to come, what's going to happen and all of that. It's better that we went off for the first two or three days. It was a good break for all of us because, of course, there were a lot of back-to-back games in the first three days.

"But again, coming back on [February] 2nd, 3rd and 4th, coming back practicing extremely hard, that's something which has been the most important part for this team. And I'm really happy that everyone had that sort of a break and enjoyed it with each other and came back being very fresh. And again, looking forward to the finals because sometimes sitting in the hotel room, not doing much can cause a lot of overthinking. So I'm happy that we had that sort of a break and RCB took us to Goa."

For Rodrigues, the character of the DC team shone through once they were pushed to a corner, with each of their last two group fixtures becoming must-win situations.

"Yeah, it does feel different to the other years," she said. "This year was a lot more hard work. But I think the way the girls stuck together stood out for me. Especially when things don't go your way, it's very easy for a team to scatter.

"But I think this team actually came together and those losses actually helped us bond a lot more and be a lot more together and come out of it. And I'm very proud of the character the girls have shown to pick themselves up, to come out and play the cricket that we are playing. I think hats off to the entire Delhi Capitals team and especially our support staff to make that environment for us."

While on the topic of support staff, Mandhana gave a glowing endorsement of Malolan Rangarajan, RCB's new head coach who took over the job from Luke Williams, the title-winning coach from 2024. Rangarajan previously worked in the women's set-up as head of scouting, and has a ringside view of how the RCB women's team has operated since inception.

"I've known Malo for the last three years," Mandhana said. "First season, of course, we didn't have a lot of time to talk to each other, but since the second season, the auction planning, Malo's always involved. He was the assistant coach for us and I feel he's extremely calm and composed.

"That's one thing which I felt… When we were 40 for 4, he was still sitting the same way in the dressing room. We were 180 for 2, he's still sitting the same way, talks the same way. And whenever you go to him as well, I feel not only me, but a lot of girls have enjoyed working with him and really taken the calmness he brings to the team.

"And I feel people who've come in, in terms of Indians, need a lot of calmness and I feel Malo has helped them a lot. So, again, my bond with him is... I feel we just don't need to talk also, we just know each other now well."

Asked from personal experience how they've dealt with personal challenges between the World Cup triumph and the WPL, Rodrigues underlined how this has been a period of growth.

"I think it's the last, I think, 3-4 months, I've grown the most, I think. Especially the last one month as a captain. But I think the best part about captaincy was I thought less about myself and more about the team. And that took a lot of pressure off me also. So I think that just gave me that space where I don't overthink my game.

"I just look out for others, look out how the team can do better, what works, what doesn't work, have a lot more conversations in practice with our players. And I think that really helped me. And yeah, apart from that, I think all I had to keep doing was just keeping things simple.

"So I think for me, it's the same thing as what I'm going to do tomorrow. Just to pull back, just stay calm, just do what comes to you very instinctively because the preparation has been done. All the plans are in place. Everything is done. Now just got to go out there and just react to whatever comes as a captain and as a batter."