Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Gujarat Giants Highlights WPL 2026: Shreyanka Patil, Radha Yadav Star As RCB Down Gujarat Giants

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RCB vs GG WPL 2026:

Shreyanka Patil bagged a five-wicket haul while Radha Yadav slammed a quickfired half-century as Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Gujarat Giants by 32 to remain unbeaten after three matches.

RCB vs GG WPL 2026 Highlights:

Shreyanka Patil bagged a five-wicket haul while Radha Yadav slammed a quickfire half-century as Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Gujarat Giants by 32 runs to remain unbeaten after three matches. Chasing 183, the Gujarat Giants were bowled out for 150, with Shreyanka returning figures of 5/23. Pacer Lauren Bell continued her stellar start to life at RCB, claiming 3/29 from her quota of overs. Earlier, India stalwarts Radha Yadav and Richa Ghosh came together at a time when their side was in desperate need of stability, forging a crucial century partnership to guide Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a competitive 182 for 7 against Gujarat Giants in Navi Mumbai. Having lost early wickets and sagging to 43 for 4, Yadav (66 off 47 balls) and Ghosh (44 off 28 balls) stitched together a 105-run stand for the fifth wicket to frustrate the Gujarat bowlers, who initially looked on course to restrict their rivals to a below-par total.

Well, well. Things are warming up in the 2026 season of the WPL and after a stutter from Mumbai Indians and also Gujarat Giants, it is Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who take the lead at the top of the table and are the first to 3 wins. Next up, we have the final round of fixtures in Navi Mumbai coming up on a double-header Saturday. On the 17th of January, it will be UP Warriors taking on Mumbai Indians in the first reverse fixture of the season beginning at 3 pm IST (9.30 am GMT). After that, it will be Delhi Capitals taking on the high-flying Royal Challengers Bengaluru beginning at 7.30 pm IST (2 pm GMT). You can join us a lot sooner for the build-up as usual. Cheers!

Radha Yadav is the Player Of The Match for her maiden and crucial half century in the WPL. Yadav says that she enjoyed herself out there in the middle and feels that the conversation with Richa Ghosh was vital as the situation was a difficult one. Lauds Ghosh for instilling confidence in her and backing her abilities. Mentures that she middled the first ball and she felt that she could play a good knock as she has done so in the past for the India A side. Adds that the coaches backed her to go big and ends up also applauding the efforts of Shreyanka Patil with the ball.

Smriti Mandhana,

the captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore, says the partnership between Radha Yadav and Richa Ghosh was special to watch. Recognizes that Yadav has played this role for her state, Baroda and also for India A. Everyone thinks of her as a finisher but she plays well in top of the order. Furthermore says you don’t know about the dew much here but they have variety in the bowling unit, they had confidence but couldn’t be overconfident with the conditions here. Admits that they dropped a couple of catches and they have a lot of pride and standards in terms of their fielding. Feels there are still a lot of places they could improve.

Even before the Powerplay was complete, RCB’s top four were back in the dugout. The effort to hold Richa Ghosh’s power-hitting for a bit later in the innings back, didn’t work for too long. She had to eventually walk in at No 6, with three balls of field restrictions still on. The real test of RCB‘s audacious experiment with the bat was ultimately on. Radha Yadav, at No 5, to give company to Richa in the middle.

In the opening game, a Nadine de Klerk special had saved RCB the ignominity of a defeat in a 155-run chase. In the second, Grace Harris’s assault upfront ensured their middle order experiment didn’t require a trial. On Friday, there was no escape. Down to 43/4, it was time to uncover what only the RCB team management knew – that Radha Yadav was a worthy No. 5 for a stage as elite as the Women’s Premier League.

For a player who has batted at No. 8 – or below – in 39 out of 50 international and WPL games coming into the tournament, Radha was left with big boots to fill in the absence of the injured Pooja Vastrakar at No. 5. Having played the middle order role for nearly a decade for Baroda, for long Radha had valued her ability with the bat. This season it was time for her to test it out in an open-match scenario, and vindicate the confidence the team management had shown in her secondary skill.

The first delivery that she received, at full length by Renuka Singh, was confidently driven to middle off.

The next was knocked towards mid on. And then, one punched to covers. None of the three shots yielded a run, but with wickets falling quickly routinely, she had to restore the balance, and keep a check on her aggressive instincts. She pulled, flicked some off the pads, and was comfortable with the drives.

For 10 balls, she held back, scoring only three runs. And then, against Georgia Wareham, she carved one via point, and followed it up by sending a loopy delivery straight down the track for a six.

While Richa was looking to bide her time in the middle, Radha started to move on. Even as boundaries started to flow, she wasn’t experimenting with danger. Spinners and pacers kept offering width for her to free her long arms and play through the offside.

Uncertain if it was a thought out tactic, but Gujarat Giants head coach Michael Klinger admitted the ploy to be a faulty one – whether intentional or not. A similar tactic was employed even by Renuka Singh, much after the movement had become negligible with the older ball.

Furthermore, despite having a couple of more options in the left-arm spin duo of Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Tanuja Kanwar, Gardner employed only five bowlers to break the partnership, none of whom caused any trouble significant. Radha was able to keep scoring freely without having to overhit. For a good part of her early inning, she didn’t take the aerial route and was happy to keep the drives and flicks on the ground, and rely on finding gaps.