WPL-4: Smriti, Voll make it four out of four for Royal Challengers

By the time the spectators could settle in at the D.Y. Patil Stadium on Saturday (January 17, 2026) evening, Delhi Capitals was four wickets down with just 10 runs on the board. An eerie silence descended on the dugout, with the team struggling to come to terms with the early setback.

But Shafali Verma wasn’t the one to press the panic button. She counterattacked with a 41-ball 62 (5×4, 4×6) as Capitals recovered and put up 166. But in the end, her efforts went in vain as Royal Challengers Bengaluru rode on captain Smriti Mandhana’s 61-ball 96 (13×4, 3×6) to pull off an eight-wicket win and end the first phase of the Women’s Premier League unbeaten.

RCB chased down Capitals’ 166 without breaking a sweat. Despite losing Grace Harris early on, Smriti forged a 142-run partnership off 91 balls for the second wicket with Georgia Voll (54 n.o., 42b, 5×4, 2×6). Throughout her innings, Smriti seemed to be in no hurry as she played by the merit of the ball, before missing out on a first-ever century in the tournament by just four runs. But Voll and Richa Ghosh took RCB home with 10 balls to spare.

The Bengaluru outfit notched up its fourth successive win while the bottom-placed Delhi side suffered its third loss in four games.

Before Smriti stole the show, Shafali entertained the crowd. Lauren Bell and Sayali Satghare made the new ball count and triggered Capitals’ collapse in the first couple of overs. But Shafali produced a blistering riposte, with a flurry of fours and sixes.

Shafali knew that it was important to forge partnerships and she did stitch a few — a 59-run stand with Niki Prasad for the fifth wicket was followed by a couple of smaller ones with Sneh Rana and Lucy Hamilton for the seventh and eighth wickets. With India’s head coach Amol Muzumdar in attendance, Shafali not only brought smiles to the Capitals camp, but also proved her mettle by coming up with one of her grittiest innings.

Shafali and Hamilton, making her debut in the tournament, ensured that Capitals reached a respectable total.

After Bell brought an end to Shafali’s innings, Hamilton hammered Shreyanka Patil for a couple of sixes and a four.

But in the end, the efforts proved futile.