Royal Challengers Bengaluru continued their unbeaten run in TATA WPL 2026, beating the Gujarat Giants for the second time in the ongoing season. Mithali Raj lauded RCB's historic winning streak, their performance in the TATA WPL 2026 so far and uncapped Gautami Naik's brilliant knock.
Mithali Raj commended RCB's continuing dream run in TATA WPL 2026:
“Absolutely wonderful signs for a team that is at the peak of its powers. If you consider the last game they played last season, that makes it six consecutive wins for RCB. Nobody would have imagined at the beginning of the season that, with Ellyse Perry unavailable for the tournament, RCB would go on to win five games. In every match, someone steps up. In this game, it was Gautami Naik with a brilliant 74. Sayali Satghare then continued from where she left off in the previous game, picking up a three-wicket haul and providing those early breakthroughs once again. Lauren Bell cannot be left out either, especially in the powerplay. She continues to take wickets both in the powerplay and at the death."
On RCB's show with both bat and ball in the first game of the season in Vadodara:
"Overall, when you look at RCB, they have played like a unit. They have responded extremely well and adapt quickly to conditions. It’s a new venue and a different environment for them, but in the first game itself, they didn’t take much time to adjust, whether it was the batters, the bowlers, or even the fielders. They were aware of which side of the boundary was shorter and which was longer, positioning themselves accordingly and standing ten metres in from the rope to take catches on the longer side. It clearly shows that RCB’s game awareness is top-class.”
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On Gautami Naik's maiden half-century in the TATA WPL:
“Smriti Mandhana said she was quite impressed with the attitude Gautami Naik showed in the first game. Regardless of the conditions or situation, even though she didn’t get an opportunity in her first match, she was well prepared to make the most of any chance that came her way, and she certainly did. In this game, she walked in at 10 for 2 and made excellent use of that opportunity, building partnerships first with Smriti Mandhana and then with Richa Ghosh. She showed a lot of maturity in the way she started her innings, and then, towards the end, when she went for the big shots, that became extremely important because, as she rightly said, anything above 160 is a bonus. They did get that bonus with 20-odd extra runs, but full credit to this youngster for sticking it out. Despite the wicket being a little tough and tricky, she used her long levers well to play those big shots. What impressed me personally was how she kept running those ones and twos. On a challenging surface, she didn’t show any frustration early on when the timing wasn’t quite there. She took her time, adjusted to the pace of the wicket, and built her innings sensibly.
