Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Smriti Mandhana got angry during practice ahead of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2026 opener against Mumbai Indians (MI). A cameraperson interrupted the training session on the field, which irked Mandhana and the video went viral on social media.
WPL 2026 started with the much-awaited match between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore. On Friday, RCB defeated Mumbai, captained by Harmanpreet Kaur, by three wickets at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. Nadine de Klerk played a key role with both bat and ball in the season opener.
Smriti Mandhana gets irritated with the cameraperson before the opener of WPL 2026
Smriti Mandhana was training on the field and facing a throwdown, when a cameraperson came very close to her. The interruption during practice caused her to lose focus and become visibly upset. The moment was captured on video and soon went viral on social media.
Later in the match, Mandhana could not score big and could only score 18 runs in 13 balls. Chasing the target of 155 runs, the left-handed batsman made a partnership of 40 runs in 23 balls for the first wicket with Grace Harris.
Watch the video posted by a user on X (formerly known as Twitter) below:
The cameraman is not leaving Smriti alone to practice and see Smriti’s reaction. pic.twitter.com/QVF8q4WTzw
– RCB (@RCBtweetzz) 9 January 2026
We were at the end of these matches – Smriti Mandhana
After the win, Smriti Mandhana said that she was happy to see that her team came out on top in a tough competition. He pointed out that RCB often plays exciting matches and said that it felt good to win a match after losing similar close matches last season.
“I think the first match of the WPL was exciting. And RCB is known to play thrillers. Last year, we were on the receiving end of these matches, so were happy that we pulled it off,” Smriti said during the post-match presentation.
“It was great for Nadine to finish the match like that. Everyone was so positive. We were laughing. Even when things weren’t going well, everyone was so positive,” he said.
Nadine de Klerk played that innings against us – Smriti Mandhana
Smriti Mandhana talks about Nadine de Klerk’s past record of changing games under pressure. He recalled South Africa’s World Cup match in Visakhapatnam, where Nadine scored an unbeaten 84 after his team was reduced to 142 for 6 while chasing a target of almost 250 against India.
Mandhana said RCB thought of the same potential when Nadine got a second chance after a dropped catch by Nate Sciver-Brunt. The captain said that the team expected Nadine to make the most of the opportunity and she did exactly that by hitting key sixes.
“Yes, we saw it in Visakhapatnam when she played that innings against us (during the World Cup). And I was just telling our head coach Malolan that I think we were in a similar situation in the World Cup match against South Africa, and she did it. And I think when she was out, we just said that when we were out, Sajna got runs – we should hope that she gets two sixes. And she actually gave them them. Received,” she said.
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