Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Smriti Mandhana won the toss in Vadodara and, sticking with the pattern of this Women’s Premier League season, chose to bowl first against Delhi Capitals. Neither side felt the need to tinker, so the XIs that brought them to the final stay intact.
Mandhana explained she was simply following the numbers: only once in 22 matches has a captain who won the toss decided to bat. Delhi counterpart Jemimah Rodrigues admitted she was of the same mind, adding it was “better to lose the toss in such games”.
The surface is the same one that hosted the Eliminator, where Capitals comfortably reeled in 169 with 26 balls left. Pundit Katey Martin, looking closely at the strip, reckoned it would reward stroke-play yet still hold “enough in it” for bowlers, spinners in particular. That balance could matter once the lights take hold and any dew appears.
For the history buffs: these two met in the 2024 final, DC batting first for 113 before RCB sneaked home with three balls spare. RCB now seek a second title; DC have reached four consecutive finals without lifting the trophy. Oddly, the Capitals still lead the overall head-to-head 6-3, hinting at a rivalry that rarely follows a script.
Quick squads check:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru – Smriti Mandhana (capt), Grace Harris, Georgia Voll, Richa Ghosh (wk), Radha Yadav, Nadine de Klerk, Pooja Vastrakar, Shreyanka Patil, Sayali Satghare, Arundhati Reddy, Lauren Bell.
Delhi Capitals – Shafali Verma, Lizelle Lee (wk), Laura Wolvaardt, Jemimah Rodrigues (capt), Marizanne Kapp, Chinelle Henry, Niki Prasad, Sneh Rana, Minnu Mani, Nandani Sharma, N Shree Charani.
Conditions look fine, the crowd is building, and, as ever in a final, nerves may matter as much as tactics. All the same, chasing teams have thrived here; Mandhana has simply backed that trend and asked her attack to set the game up.
