We’re all excited to just get going - Smriti Mandhana on WPL 2026 season opener

Royal Challengers Bengaluru will kick off their WPL 2026 season with a box-office clash against the Mumbai Indians at the DY Patil Stadium on January 9th.

Speaking on the occasion of playing the season opener and the buzz around the squad, RCB skipper Smriti Mandhana offered an insight into the excitement around the game with a bunch of fresh faces in the team.

Smriti said, “First games are always nice and special, and of course Mumbai Indians is also a great squad. To be fair, we’re all really excited to just get going, you know, get in the experience. I mean, everyone’s new to RCB, they’re all looking forward to it, how it’s going to be, the atmosphere is going to be.”

Shedding some light on the playing conditions at the DY Patil stadium and how it will suit RCB’s playing style, Smriti remarked, “I feel D.Y. Patil is becoming the home of women's cricket in India because we have so many pace bowling all-rounders and D.Y. Patil does suit a lot to pace bowling. It has a little for the pace bowlers. So in that way, it's only going to help us and also our batters would enjoy batting at D.Y. Patil because it offers a lot of bounce.”