WPL 2026: RCB's Nadine de Klerk admits victory vs MI yet to fully sink in

RCB all-rounder Nadine de Klerk said on Friday that it would take a few days for the thrilling three-wicket victory over defending champions Mumbai Indians in the Women's Premier League opener to sink in, adding that backing her strengths helped her play a match-winning role in the humdinger.

The South African stalwart returned impressive figures of 4/26 to restrict the Mumbai Indians to 154 for six and then showed great resolve with the bat, scoring an unbeaten 63 off 44 balls under pressure to earn the player-of-the-match award for the last-ball victory.

"It is probably going to take a couple of days. If it is your day, you have to ensure you cash in. Glad to get the win," said de Klerk, when asked if the feeling had sunk in.

 

De Klerk said she just stuck to the basics while bowling, and it paid rich dividends.

"Just about coming in and backing your skills, and executing. Just sticking to my strengths... sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it does not. On these grounds, on these batting wickets, you just need to cash in."  While batting, she said she wanted the maximum strike for maximum impact.

"Towards the back end, I was thinking of taking a bulk of the strike. Couple of important partnerships. Arundhati (Reddy, 20 runs) batted beautifully. A couple of boundaries (by Prema Rawat - 8 not out) were also very important."  RCB skipper Smriti Mandhana said her team was known to come back from the brink.

"It was a thriller. RCB are known for thrillers, and brilliant from Nadine (to win us this game). Everyone was very positive, even when things were not going well. Nadine did all the work for us in the batting and bowling department," said Mandhana.

MI skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said her bowlers were lacking on the day.

"We just did not bowl one good ball. This happens. We gave her (de Klerk) chances and sometimes, batters come with strong mindset. We missed those chances.

"In WPL, we always get matches like that. We need to think what better we can do in the next match," she added.