The initial match of Women's Premier League (WPL) 2026 will be played between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and both will be making their debut. This match will be held at DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai, and selecting players for both teams might be a problem.
Mumbai Indians are expected to play with the minimum possible changes. The biggest impact of changes for Bengaluru will be the loss of Ellyse Perry. This will be the first time their campaign without Perry. The Bangalore outfit has signed Australian batswoman Georgia Voll for a price of ₹60 lakh. She will open the batting alongside captain Smriti Mandhana. Nadine de Klerk, Lauren Bell, and Grace Harris will play as the other overseas players.
Mumbai Indians have not made many changes to their squad. Mumbai has a fairly balanced XI, with Kamalini expected to open alongside Hayley Matthews. In addition to Matthews, this season's most expensive player, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Shabnim Ismail, and Amelia Kar will play as overseas players.
Probable Playing 11 for Team Mumbai Indians: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), G. Kamalini (wicketkeeper), Hayley Matthews, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Amelia Kar, Amanjot Kaur, Poonam Khemnar, S. Sajna, Sanskriti Gupta, Shabnim Ismail, and Shaika Ishaq.
Probable Playing 11 for Team Royal Challengers Bangalore: Smriti Mandhana (captain), Georgia Wall, D Hemalatha, Grace Harris, Richa Ghosh (wicketkeeper), Nadine de Klerk, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, Arundhati Reddy and Lauren Bell.