Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) is getting into a brand new period. After the excessive of their Girls’s Premier League 2024 title and the frustration of 2025, the franchise underwent an enormous tactical overhaul in the course of the November 2025 Mega Public sale.
RCB celebrity Ellyse Perry withdrawn from WPL 2026
Nonetheless, the most important shockwave hit the camp simply three days in the past: Ellyse Perry has formally withdrawn from WPL 2026 resulting from private causes. In her place, RCB have signed Mumbai’s home standout Sayali Satghare. This sudden shift has pressured the administration to pivot from ‘star-power reliance’ to a extra balanced, role-based ‘Indian core’ technique. With the season opener towards Mumbai Indians scheduled for January 9 on the DY Patil Stadium, the staff is scrambling to combine new worldwide signings like Lauren Bell and Grace Harris right into a unit that should now be taught to thrive with out its best legend.
RCB’s finest enjoying XI for WPL 2026
1. Smriti Mandhana (Captain): The heartbeat of the franchise, Smriti enters 2026 after a prolific worldwide season the place she dominated the 2025 Girls’s World Cup on dwelling soil. Her function because the aggressive anchor is extra crucial than ever in Perry’s absence; she stays the costliest Indian participant in league historical past and is at the moment averaging 38.45 in T20Is over the past 12 months with a strike fee of 138.
2. Georgia Voll (Abroad – AUS): Signed for INR 60 Lakh on the mega public sale, Voll is the explosive answer to RCB’s opening woes. A rising star from the Massive Bash, she lately made headlines by changing into one of many youngest to attain a home T20 century. Her ‘see-ball, hit-ball’ strategy permits Mandhana the liberty to settle, offering RCB with a much-needed right-left dynamic on the prime.
3. Dayalan Hemalatha: Secured for INR 30 Lakh, Hemalatha is the tactical bridge within the prime order. After a resurgent 2025 worldwide season the place she showcased her capability to tackle spin within the center overs, she offers the soundness required at Quantity 3. Her expertise in high-pressure Indian circumstances makes her a dependable backup to the aggressive openers.
4. Grace Harris (Abroad – AUS): The ‘powerhouse’ of the center order, Harris was a steal at INR 75 Lakh. With a profession T20I strike fee of 155+, she is the designated ‘spin-killer.’ In a lineup lacking Perry’s stability, Harris’s capability to clear the boundary at will and her useful off-spin make her an important abroad participant within the XI.
Additionally READ: BCCI declares full schedule for WPL 2026; Royal Challengers Bengaluru will battle Mumbai Indians within the opener
5. Richa Ghosh (Wicketkeeper): The premier finisher in world cricket, Richa’s inventory has by no means been greater. Coming off a blistering 40 (16)* within the 4th T20I towards Sri Lanka simply final week, she enters WPL 2026 in red-hot kind. Her energy hitting within the “demise overs” (overs 16-20) stays RCB’s greatest weapon to show 150-run totals into 180+.
6. Nadine de Klerk (Abroad – SA): Re-signed for INR 65 Lakh, de Klerk is now the frontline seam-bowling all-rounder following Perry’s exit. She proved her price within the 2025 World Cup semi-finals with a match-winning 2-wicket haul. She offers the “glue” within the decrease center order, able to enjoying lengthy innings or offering 4 overs of disciplined medium-pace.
7. Pooja Vastrakar: RCB broke the financial institution to safe India’s premier tempo all-rounder. Vastrakar brings elite demise bowling and lower-order pyrotechnics. After a 2025 worldwide season the place she turned India’s main wicket-taker within the Powerplay, her dual-threat functionality affords RCB the steadiness they lacked in earlier years.
8. Shreyanka Patil: The ‘Purple Cap’ hero of 2024 is again to full health after a irritating 2025 sidelined by a shin harm. Her return is an enormous enhance; she lately proved her rhythm within the Girls’s CPL 2025, and her capability to bowl the robust overs within the Powerplay and on the demise together with her off-spin is unmatched within the league.
9. Radha Yadav: A high-intensity left-arm spinner and world-class fielder, Radha was introduced in to bolster the spin division. Her worldwide expertise of 75+ T20Is and her capability to squeeze runs within the center overs (financial system of 6.40 in 2025) makes her the right associate for Shreyanka.
10. Arundhati Reddy: Reddy joins RCB for INR 75 Lakh after a career-best yr that noticed her reclaim her spot within the Indian nationwide facet. Recognized for her “never-give-up” perspective and a lethal yorker, she offers the third seam possibility. Her current worldwide kind consists of 7 wickets within the T20 World Cup, the joint-most for India.
11. Lauren Bell (Abroad – ENG): RCB’s most costly public sale purchase at INR 90 Lakh, “The Shard” is the tempo spearhead. Standing 6’2″, the England worldwide generates bounce and swing that’s uncommon within the WPL. Presently ranked within the ICC Prime 5 for T20I bowlers, her opening spells would be the key to breaking opposition prime orders.
Tactical Breakdown
- The Opening Pair: With Sophie Devine transferring to Gujarat Giants, RCB secured Georgia Voll, who holds the joint-highest rating in WPL historical past. She is going to associate Smriti Mandhana to supply a right-left explosive begin.
- The Energy Center-Order: Grace Harris is an enormous acquisition from the public sale. Her capability to dismantle spin and tempo makes her the first engine of this lineup. Richa Ghosh continues her function because the finisher who also can anchor if the highest order collapses.
- The Perry Alternative: Whereas Sayali Satghare has joined as a alternative, she could begin on the bench as RCB makes use of their 4 abroad slots for Harris, Voll, de Klerk, and Bell. Nadine de Klerk offers the seam-bowling all-rounder steadiness that Perry as soon as provided.
- Indian Bowling Core: RCB have one of many strongest Indian bowling models this yr. Pooja Vastrakar and Arundhati Reddy present international-quality tempo, whereas the spin duo of Shreyanka Patil and Radha Yadav might be deadly on the dry tracks in Navi Mumbai and Vadodara.
- Abroad Tempo: Lauren Bell will lead the assault together with her capability to swing the brand new ball, an important issue within the night matches in Navi Mumbai.
Affect Participant Choices
- Sayali Satghare: If the pitch favors tempo, she will are available in for one of many spinners.
- Linsey Smith: A wonderful left-arm orthodox possibility if the staff decides to bench an abroad pacer for an additional spinner.
Additionally READ: Lauren Bell reacts after changing into the costliest purchase for RCB in WPL 2026 Public sale
This text was first printed at WomenCricket.com, a Cricket Occasions firm.
