RCB bowl in WPL final, both teams unchanged
RCB are chasing their second title, DC their first
ESPNcricinfo staff
Feb 5, 2026, 1:53 PM • 12 hrs ago
Smriti Mandhana's RCB chose to bowl against Jemimah Rodrigues' DC • BCCI
Toss Royal Challengers Bengaluru chose to bowl vs Delhi Capitals
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) captain Smriti Mandhana won the toss and opted to bowl in the WPL 2026 final against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Vadodara. Both teams were unchanged.
Mandhana pointed to chasing being the trend in the tournament as the reason behind her decision. Including the final, only once in 22 matches in this tournament has the team winning the toss chosen to bat first. DC captain Jemimah Rodrigues said she wanted to bowl first too, but felt it was "better to lose the toss in such games".
The match will be played on the same surface that hosted the Eliminator, in which DC beat Gujarat Giants by chasing down 169 with 26 balls remaining. During the pitch report, Katey Martin said the pitch would help the batters but had "enough in it" for bowlers, especially the spinners.
When RCB beat DC in the 2024 WPL final, DC had opted to bat first, putting up 113 which RCB chased down with three balls remaining. RCB will be chasing their second title, while DC will be eyeing their maiden win in their fourth successive final.
Overall, DC hold the head-to-head advantage over RCB, having won six out of their nine meetings.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 1 Smriti Mandhana (capt), 2 Grace Harris, 3 Georgia Voll, 4 Richa Ghosh (wk), 5 Radha Yadav, 6 Nadine de Klerk, 7 Pooja Vastrakar, 8 Shreyanka Patil, 9 Sayali Satghare, 10 Arundhati Reddy, 11 Lauren Bell.
Delhi Capitals: 1 Shafali Verma, 2 Lizelle Lee (wk), 3 Laura Wolvaardt, 4 Jemimah Rodrigues (capt), 5 Marizanne Kapp, 6 Chinelle Henry, 7 Niki Prasad, 8 Sneh Rana, 9 Minnu Mani, 10 Nandani Sharma, 11 N Shree Charani.