Clash Of Champions! MI Vs RCB — Harmanpreet Kaur & Smriti Mandhana To Light Up WPL Opener Tonight

Two-time winners and defending champions of the Women’s Premier League, Mumbai Indians, will kick off the 2026 edition of the WPL with a clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Friday night.

These are the only two teams that know what winning the WPL feels like. They also feature the biggest names in Indian women’s cricket: Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana.

Both stars are familiar with tonight’s venue—it’s where they experienced the greatest moment of their careers when India won the ODI World Cup.

Now, in more colourful outfits, Harmanpreet and Smriti will look to fine-tune their T20 skills ahead of the tournament in England later this year.

2025 was a memorable year for Harmanpreet, as she lifted both the WPL and ODI World Cup trophies. Mumbai Indians made minimal changes to their winning combination before last year’s auction. Their squad boasts some of the best players in the world. Alongside Harmanpreet, they have two more international captains: Nat Sciver-Brunt (England) and Hayley Matthews (West Indies).

The presence of Amelia Kerr and Shabnam Ismail strengthens the bowling attack, while Hayley, Nat, and Harman form the backbone of MI’s batting. Keep an eye on G Kamalini, the 17-year-old wicketkeeper-batter—she could be Mumbai’s X-factor this season.

In Smriti, RCB have in their side one of the finest white-ball batters of the world. The left-handed opener is no. 2 in the ICC ODI rankings and no.3 in the ICC T20 rankings for the batters. She is the only captain besides Harmanpreet Kaur to have lifted the WPL trophy. RCB dealt with a heavy blow when Aussie all-rounder Ellyse Perry pulled out of the tournament.

The team boasts of a solid Indian core in Richa Ghosh, Radha Yadav and Arundhati Reddy. A fully-fit Shreyanka Patil will add further depth to RCB's lineup. Shreyanka could not play last season due to an injury so her return will feel like addition of a new player to the squad.

Mumbai Indians: G Kamalini (wk), Hayley Matthews, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Amelia Kerr, Amanjot Kaur, Poonam Khemnar, S Sajana, Sanskriti Gupta, Shabnim Ismail, Saika Ishaque

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Smriti Mandhana (capt), Georgia Voll, D Hemalatha, Grace Harris, Richa Ghosh, 6 Nadine de Klerk, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, Arundhati Reddy, Lauren Bell

Head to Head

Royal Challengers Bengaluru have won three of the the last five matches they have played against Mumbai Indians. Mumbai have won the other two games.

Form Guide (last five matches)

Mumbai Indians: W-W-L-W-W

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: L-L-L-L-W

The match gets underway at 7.30 pm IST. It will be streamed LIVE on the Jiohotstar app and broadcast on the Star Sports channels.