RCB now gets a week’s rest before taking on one of the Gujarat Giants, the Mumbai Indians or the Delhi Capitals in the playoffs.
Grace Harris has delivered one of her occasional blockbuster innings to power Royal Challengers Bengaluru into the final of India’s Women’s Premier League — but it also spelled the end for Meg Lanning’s UP Warriorz.
Harris has had a lean time since smashing a blistering 85 against the Warriorz a couple of weeks earlier in Mumbai, but she rediscovered her thunderous best in Vadodara on Thursday, cracking 75 off just 37 balls — including 64 coming in boundaries — to ease RCB to a thumping eight-wicket win.
Not only that, but the 32-year-old had earlier taken 2-22 with her first three overs of offspin in the tournament to help pin the Warriorz down to 8-143 after they had been put in to bat.
“I’m just really glad to be classified as an allrounder for this game,” beamed the ever-smiling Harris, who found just the right day to put behind her a miserable recent run of just 43 runs in her last five innings.
Instead, she made life a misery for her former Australian captain Meg Lanning, whose Warriorz are effectively all but out of contention for the playoffs after their fifth defeat in seven matches.
Once again, Lanning got a decent start as she launched the Warriorz innings with 41 off 30 balls, but once she and Deepti Sharma (51) departed, the innings quickly lost momentum, especially without her Australian teammate Sophie Litchfield, who’s gone home with a quad injury.
“In T20 cricket, when you get batters in, you need to keep going and capitalise, including me. Forty’s a good start, but you’ve got to keep going. Every time, we’ve got some momentum, we’ve made it too easy for the opposition,” sighed Lanning, who was one of Nadine de Klerk’s four victims.
Harris, who’d picked up the big wickets of Harleen Deol and Chloe Tryon, then set out as if she had a plane to catch. By the time, her opening partnership with her brilliant Indian skipper Smriti Mandhana had passed 50 in just the fifth over, she’d already smashed 43 of those runs.
She went to her 50 off 28 balls with a huge 75-metre six deposited over long on – the fifth half-century of her WPL career – and she looked set to race to the fastest ever WPL ton when she was deceived by one that kept a bit low from Shikha Pandey, having struck 13 fours and two sixes.
Asked about her return to form, Harris mused: “I’m happy I’ve kind of reverted back to older patterns, just a bit more free, not thinking too much.”
After a century opening partnership off just 52 balls, fellow Queenslander Georgia Voll took the baton from Harris with 16 off 15 balls while the regal Mandhana got her team home with a two-a-ball 54no.
RCB now get a week’s rest, safe in the knowledge that they’re guaranteed a place in the final next Thursday, while Ash Gardner’s Gujarat Giants, Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals effectively scrap it out for the right to challenge them in the playoffs.
WPL 2026 standings
Team
Matches played
M
Wins
W
Losses
L
Ties
T
No results
N/R
Net Run Rate
NRR
Deductions
Ded.
Total points
PTS
1
RCB
8
6
2
0
0
1.247
0
12
2
GUJ
7
4
3
0
0
-0.271
0
8
3
MI
7
3
4
0
0
0.146
0
6
4
DEL
7
3
4
0
0
-0.164
0
6
5
UPW
7
2
5
0
0
-1.146
0
4
Legend
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points
