Australian all-rounder Grace Harris opened the innings for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the 144-run chase against UP Warriorz on Monday (January 12) in Navi Mumbai and scored 85 runs from just 40 balls.
During her stay at the crease, she slammed 10 fours and 5 sixes for the Smriti Mandhana-led side and helped them secure a dominating win by 9 wickets.
Grace, who was part of UP Warriorz in the WPL from 2023 to 2025, added 137 runs in 11.4 overs for the first wicket with RCB skipper Mandhana to set the platform for a big win for the 2024 WPL champions.
Grace needed just 22 balls on Monday to complete her half-century, and she added a total of 30 runs to RCB’s total from the sixth over of their innings bowled by West Indies all-rounder Deandra Dottin. In that over, Grace hammered Dottin for three sixes and three fours.
Grace’s super show with the bat on Monday helped her bag the Player Of The Match award, and it also helped RCB jump two places and take the No. 1 position in the WPL 2026 points table. The Bengaluru-based franchise have 4 points to their credit in two matches played so far.
Grace has 110 runs to her credit in two WPL 2026 matches played so far, and she is third in the list of batters with the most runs in WPL 2026.
Other star performers in RCB vs UPW WPL 2026 match
Apart from Harris, RCB skipper Mandhana also impressed with her batting on Monday. She faced 32 balls and, with the help of nine fours, remained unbeaten on 47 runs. In the bowling, South African all-rounder Nadine de Klerk picked up two wickets for RCB in her quota of four overs. She opened her wicket account by dismissing Kiran Navgire on the first ball of her first over of the match and then, on the next delivery, got rid of Shewta Sehrawat. While Navgire was caught by Linsey Smith after scoring 5 runs from 3 balls, Arundhati Reddy completed Shewta’s catch, who made a golden duck.
Apart from Nadine, spinner Shreyanka Patil also picked up two wickets for the Smriti Mandhana-led side on Monday. Patil opened her account by dismissing UP Warriorz skipper Meg Lanning (14) on the first ball of the eighth over of UPW’s innings and then, on the last ball of that same over, brought an end to Phoebie Litchfield’s knock of 20 runs from 11 balls.
