Harris, Mandhana, de Klerk seal RCB's spot in the final

Grace Harris's all-round show on Thursday powered Royal Challengers Bengaluru into the final of Women's Premier League 2026. Harris blazed away to a 37-ball 75 - after returning figures of 2 for 22 - as RCB secured a comfortable eight-wicket win over UP Warriorz in Vadodara, their sixth win of the season.

Chasing 144 for victory, RCB were in command throughout the chase. The dominance had started from the first over itself, with Harris putting away a delivery on her legs for boundary, and then flicking another through mid wicket two balls later. It was the kinder of her assaults against Kranti Gaud. In the pacer's next over, Harris carted her for five boundaries, and then slammed Deepti Sharma for a six over long on. By the end of the PowerPlay, RCB had cruised to 63, breaking little sweat in the process.

Harris brought up her half-century right after the PowerPlay, muscling S Asha over long on for a six. The carnage was relentless and the spin duo of Asha and Deepti bore the brunt of the flat track and Harris' free-flowing attack. By the time she departed, cleaned up by Shikha Pandey in the first ball of the 10th over, RCB had wiped out 108 runs from the chase - and the result was a mere formality.

Just before she fell, her opening partner Smriti Mandhana who was playing the second fiddle in the partnership till then, had also started to cut loose. Against Chloe Tryon in the previous over, Mandhana had punched, swept and cut the spinner for three successive boundaries. As RCB charged towards the target after Harris's departure, the southpaw launched a couple of sixes and brought up her half-century.

Georgia Voll departed with one run needed, but Mandhana helped her side over the line by slog-sweeping Deepti for a boundary in the 14th over.

The contest wasn't always as one-sided. After being put in to bat, by the end of the 8th over of Warriorz's innings, it seemed all was flowing smoothly. It was the first time they had managed to go past the PowerPlay without losing a wicket, and the new combination at the top - of Meg Lanning and Deepti Sharma - were just starting to cut loose.

Lanning had played her part of keeping the damage at bay against Lauren Bell's swinging deliveries. Even as she was slow to get going against the pacer, she picked up her gear from the other end. After cutting Sayali Sathghare for a boundary through boundary in the second over, and sweeping Shreyanka Patil with similar effect in the fourth, she took apart Satghare and Arundhati Reddy after the PowerPlay.

All this while, Deepti, who was playing the second fiddle, chose a different mode of attack, going after Bell - the best bowler in the tournament - in her third over. A six and a boundary helped UPW's cause as they cantered to a strong start 74 for no loss in eight overs.

The stage was set for a flourish, but it all came undone in the ninth over, with Nadine de Klerk striking twice in her first over. Radha Yadav, running in from deep cover, took a fine catch to dismiss Lanning, and Amy Jones - playing her maiden WPL game - was trapped leg-before, with the review coming to no aid.

It was the start of a collapse. Three overs later, a flighted delivery from Grace Harris stayed low and cleaned up Harleen Deol for a run-a-ball 14. As the wickets continued to tumble, even the scoring rate saw no real progress. The desperation started to show. It began with Tryon getting stumped while attempting to go down the track against Harris. Soon enough, Shweta Sehrawat went chasing after a wide delivery from Bell in her return spell. The lack of pace on the ball resulted in the batter skying it to the extra cover fielder instead.

Deepti, who was a witness to the collapse from the other end, raised a 40-ball half-century, but could do little to help the side accelerate in the death overs, and eventually departed on the final ball.

For all practical purposes, the result of the contest has ended the campaign for UP Warriorz. Lanning, who had captained her side to three successive finals in the first three seasons of the tournament, might in all likelihood now have to be a wooden spoon holder - with Warriorz likely to end their second successive season at the bottom of the table.

Warriorz next play Delhi Capitals in their last league game on Sunday. For their campaign to be alive, they would need Giants to beat Mumbai Indians and then hope to beat Capitals, and hold a superior Net Run Rate.

Brief Scores: UP Warriorz 143/8 in 20 overs (Deepti Sharma 55, Meg Lanning 41; Nadine de Klerk 4-22, Grace Harris 2-22) lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru 147/2 in 13.1 overs (Grace Harris 75, Smriti Mandhana 54*; S Asha 1-24) by 8 wickets