MUMBAI: Mumbai Indians head coach Lisa Keightley rued the dropped catches and admitted that they had a below-average first innings total after the loss in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2026 opener against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Friday.RCB’s Nadine de Klerk was the star of the MI vs RCB WPL match as she hit a four-fer followed by a winning half-century, propelling the Smriti Mandhana-led team to open their account with a win in the opening match of the tournament.
Chasing 155, de Klerk scored 20 runs in the last over to take his team over the line and secure a three-wicket victory over the defending champions.However, what hurt the Mumbai-based franchise the most was what happened in the 19th over of the second innings, where Nadine de Klerk was bowled twice, first by Nat Sciver-Brunt and then by Amelia Kerr.In the post-match press conference, Lisa Keightley said the team’s performance was below average. He praised Lauren Bell who claimed a wicket and produced a brilliant spell of 1-14 in 4 overs. She said another 10 runs in the first innings could have made the difference, but it was the missed opportunities in the field in the last over that ultimately hurt their chances of winning.“It was definitely under par, I think it looked pretty tough at the beginning, and Lauren Bell bowled extremely well in those conditions. We put the pressure on early. But getting to the score we did was good, and if we got another 10 in the last over, it could have been a little bit different. But it was way under par to fight back and extend the game, and be in that position to win the match. But the dropped catches really hurt us in the long run,” the Mumbai Indians coach said in the post-match presser. to the party. conference. Coming into the match, RCB had won the toss and had opted to play first. After MI were reduced to 67/4, an 82-run stand between S Sajana (45 off 25 balls, with seven fours and two sixes) and Nicola Carey (40 off 29 balls, with four boundaries) took MI to 154/6, with Nadine (4/26) and Lauren Bell (1/14) bowling incredible four-over spells.Chasing the total, RCB got off to a good start and put up a 40-run opening stand with Grace Harris (25 off 12 balls, with four boundaries and a six) and captain Smriti Mandhana (18 off 13 balls, with four boundaries) firing on all cylinders. Amelia Kerr’s Spell (2/13) played a crucial role in tipping the scales in MI’s favour, reducing RCB to 65/5. But a 52-run stand between Nadine and Arundhati Reddy (20 off 25 balls, with two fours) kept RCB alive in the hunt. With 18 runs remaining in the final over, after two points against Sciver-Brunt, Nadine nailed it for 6,4,6 and 4 to seal a memorable victory, with Prema Rawat (8* in four balls with two fours) making a small cameo.
