In this scratchy start on the field to the 2026 Women’s Premier League (WPL) elevated by Lauren Bell’s fine spell of swing bowling and Sajana’s charmed counter-attacking 25-ball 45, it was de Klerk who delivered thrilling drama and a three-wicket last-ball win for RCB on Friday.

With RCB staring down the barrel inside the eighth over at 65/5 chasing 155, de Klerk, who’d done her fair share with the ball picking up 4/26, showed the kind of value she brings to a team.

Harmanpreet Kaur would know well, watching the South African turn the tables on India in the league game of the ODI World Cup last year. She watched on as MI captain this time, as de Klerk first steadied the ship and then sailed it home off the final ball with her unbeaten 63 off 44 balls.

Stringing a partnership with Arundhati Reddy, she brought the equation down to 29 off 12. That’s when Nat Sciver-Brunt and Amelia Kerr spilled the catches, while G Kamalini also failed to gather the ball from Kerr for the run-out.

With 18 needed off the final over by Sciver-Brunt, de Klerk played out two dot balls before going 6, 4, 6 and 4 to pull off an opening Houdini act for RCB at the DY Patil Stadium.

A little over two months after the venue stood witness to Indian women’s cricket’s watershed moment, the buzz for it was palpable once again through the streets leading into the stadium here.

But before the match could kick off, there was a little song-and-dance for the near-capacity crowd. Yo Yo Honey Singh wanted them to “Party All Night”, no matter that it would come at the cost of delaying the start by 12 minutes.

Bell rang the belated start in some style. The tall English fast bowler on WPL debut made the new ball swing and the scoreboard static in the first over. Kerr, asked to open in place of an unwell Hayley Matthews, looked all at sea playing largely across the line.

Bell ended Kerr’s uncomfortable 15-ball stay on the final delivery of her brilliant three-over opening spell of just seven runs. She completed the night with 19 dot balls.

Sciver-Brunt began with a fine boundary but perished soon after the powerplay to de Klerk. The English captain strolled out of the crease after failing to spot the ball that had ricocheted backwards off her bat and pad. An alert Richa Ghosh swiftly grabbed it and whipped off the bails to pull off a smart stumping.

Ghosh had a good day behind the stumps, with the de Klerk-Ghosh combo also accounting for Harmanpreet Kaur (20, 17b). Smacking her team’s first six in the previous over, the MI captain went for another expansive drive only to edge it this time to Ghosh standing up.

That was six balls after G Kamalini, who showed promise in her knock of 32 (28b) was cleaned up going for a sweep by Shreyanka Patil.

RCB had MI tottering at 67/4 in 11 overs, and could have well shut the door on them had their fielders snapped Sajana’s offerings early in her innings.

Dropped on 2 and 4 in the 13th and 14th over by Hemalatha Dayalan at midwicket and Sayali Satghare at mid-off respectively, Sajana cashed in. She broke the shackles by smashing a six off Radha Yadav, and shifted gears thereon. A short ball from Arundhati was slapped over Ghosh for a four, while a de Klerk yorker length delivery was smoked to the midwicket fence.

Sajana’s power-hitting was in full flow, but Nicola Carey’s (40, 29b) touch play featuring sweeps and reverse sweeps was no less valuable. The left-handed Australian and the right-handed Indian put on 82 runs off just 49 balls to get MI to a fighting 154/6.

In contrast to MI, RCB came out firing with the bat. Smriti Mandhana and Grace Harris raked up 40 in three overs with a barrage of boundaries. Brakes were applied when Shabnim Ismail got Mandhana (18, 13b) slogging across the line and straight up to mid-on. The wheels of the RCB top and middle order came off soon after.

Sciver-Brunt placed a long-on and had Harris (25, 12b) holed out there. Amanjot Kaur trapped Hemalatha, while Kerr spun a googly through Radha’s defence. And when Carey took an excellent catch running to her left from long-off to a mistimed shot by Ghosh off Kerr, RCB looked seemingly done and dusted at 65/5.

Except, De Klerk was far from done.