Coming on the back of a come-from-behind win against Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bengaluru hopes to keep the momentum going as it faces the UP Warriorz in a Women’s Premier League fixture on Monday.

With the DY Patil Stadium set to be a packed house, despite it being the first working day of the week, the Smriti Mandhana-led side will be keen on ironing out its batting flaws that let it down in the previous outing. However, with an enviable batting line-up, featuring captain Smriti, Grace Haris, Richa Ghosh and Nadine de Klerk, who eventually bailed the team out with an unbeaten 63, there’s enough firepower.

For the champion of the 2024 edition, it will be all about executing the plans on a surface that is likely to aid the batters.

The bowling department, too, needs to step up and re-strategize against the Warriorz, who lost to Gujarat Giants in the last game. With Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil and Radha Yadav around, there’s no dearth of experience on the bowling front. However, Radha, who was expensive against MI in the last game, needs to rise to the occasion and provide the team with breakthroughs in crucial junctures.

The UP franchise, meanwhile, would be hoping for its star recruit Deepti Sharma, also the costliest Indian buy in this auction, to shrug off the disappointments of the campaigner opener and strike form.

Against the Giants, Deepti scored a solitary run and looked off-colour with the ball as well, going wicketless. Ahead of a key clash against heavyweight RCB, Warriorz’s new captain Meg Lanning would expect her seasoned campaigner to step up.

While the legendary Australian captain, too, needs to come in handy, expectations will be high from youngster Phoebe Litchfield, who scored 78 in a losing cause. With Kiran Navgire and Harleen Deol at the top, UPW is certainly a force to reckon with. However, it will need to walk the talk.

Published on Jan 11, 2026