The first match of the Women’s Premier League Season 4 (WPL 2026) was very exciting, in which Nadine de Klerk dominated. Mumbai Indians seemed to be winning till the end, but Clarke turned the tables. When 18 runs were required from 6 balls, there was some hope, but as soon as no runs were scored in the first 2 balls, there was disappointment in the RCB camp, but what happened after that was historical.

This happened for the first time in history when RCB won the first match against Mumbai Indians in the Women’s Premier League. Defending champion Mumbai had scored 154 runs while batting first.

Wreaked havoc with the ball before the bat

Nadine de Klerk’s batting is being discussed, but before that she had also impressed with her bowling. He took 4 wickets for 26 runs in his spell of 4 overs, which also included the wicket of Harmanpreet Kaur. His brilliant bowling restricted Mumbai Indians to 154 runs, which was a small score as per the pitch.

Nadine de Klerk won Player of the Match award

Smriti Mandhana and Grace Harris gave a good start to RCB, both added 40 runs for the first wicket. But after this, there was pressure on RCB due to continuous fall of wickets. Then Nadine de Klerk took over the innings and slowly took it forward. When 18 runs were needed in an over, he did not even take easy singles in the first two balls, but after that he hit a six. After hitting a four on the fourth ball, he hit another six on the fifth ball. When 2 runs were needed on the last ball, he gave victory to RCB by hitting a boundary.

Who is Nadine De Klerk?

25-year-old Nadine de Klerk is an all-rounder player from South Africa, who made her international debut (ODI) against India in 2017. Clarke also played his T20 International debut match against India on 13 February 2018. In March 2020, he got a national contract from Cricket South Africa for the first time.

Clarke was also a part of the RCB team in the 2024 Women’s Premier League, where she got a chance to play only one match, in which she scored 1 run and took 2 wickets.

Nadine de Klerk was a part of the Mumbai Indians team last year, although she did not get a chance to play. Talking about Clarke’s international career, he has scored 114 runs in 4 tests and taken 4 wickets. In 58 ODI matches, he scored 934 runs and took 68 wickets. In T20 International, Clarke has scored 667 runs and taken 52 wickets.

Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Mumbai Indians by 3 wickets in the first match of Women’s Premier League Season 4 (WPL 2026). While chasing the target of 155 runs, Smriti Mandhana and Grace Harris had made a bright start, but due to continuous fall of wickets, Mumbai Indians had the upper hand. MI was close to victory till the last over, but Nadine de Klerk turned the tables in the last 4 balls.

However, this was not a story of just 4 balls, rather Nadine de Klerk batted well in the entire match and completed her half-century before hitting the winning four. On one hand, wickets were falling, Clerk played a sensible innings and brought the team closer to the target.

What happened in the last over?

Royal Challengers Bangalore needed 18 runs from 6 balls to win. Prema Rawat was on non-strike, while Nadine de Klerk did not take easy singles on the first two balls. She hit a brilliant six on the third ball of the over bowled by Natalie Sciver-Brunt. He completed his half-century by hitting a four on the fourth ball.

Nadine also hit a six on the fifth ball, after which RCB needed 2 runs to win on the last ball. He won the match for RCB by hitting a four on the last ball. He scored unbeaten 63 runs in 44 balls. In this innings he hit 2 sixes and 7 fours.

. . , Nadine de Klerk!

She clinches a famous victory for @RCBTweets in the #TATAWPL 2026 opener

Scorecard https://t.co/IWU1URl1fr#KhelEmotionKa , #MIvRCB pic.twitter.com/5a9kjYJc2b

— Women’s Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) January 9, 2026

RCB created history

In the last 3 seasons, it has never happened that Royal Challengers Bangalore has defeated Mumbai Indians in the first match of the edition. This is the first time this has happened. In this match held at DY Patil Stadium, Smriti Mandhana won the toss and decided to bowl first. Mumbai had scored 154 runs while batting first.

While chasing the target, the opening pair of Royal Challengers (Smriti and Grace Harry) had made a partnership of 40 runs, but after the break of this pair, RCB’s wickets kept falling continuously. Apart from the half-century innings of Nadine de Klerk (63), Arundhati Reddy (20) and Prema Rawat (8) played short but important innings.