Smriti Mandhana won the Player of the Final and Orange Cap for most runs in WPL 2026.
Smriti Mandhana starred with the bat as RCB registered a 6-wicket win over DC in the WPL 2026 final. Delhi Capitals posted 203/4 after being asked to bat first, thanks to 57 by captain Jemimah Rodrigues, 44 by Laura Wolvaardt, 37 by Lizelle Lee, and a quick 35* by Chinelle Henry.
In response, Georgia Voll hammered 79 in 54 balls, and captain Smriti Mandhana smashed 87 in 41 balls as RCB chased down the total with 6 wickets in hand.
Mandhana was also named the Player of the Match in the WPL final and won the Orange Cap for most runs. In the aftermath, the RCB coach revealed that Mandhana was suffering from the flu and a high fever in the match.
"Massive, massive flu. She was seriously unwell with a high fever. But to turn up, not even show it, nobody in the team [knew]…for one second also didn't show it. That's the person Smriti is. When I spoke to her this afternoon, she said, 'Nahi, Malo, koi problem nahi (there's no problem), I'll be there.' So that's her with her work ethic,” RCB coach Malolan Rangarajan was quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
Mandhana hammered 12 fours and 3 sixes in her 41-ball 87-run knock. She finished with 377 runs in the season, the top scorer of WPL 2026.
"I think she saved one of her best innings for the final. The way she batted was…inhuman? I don't even know the word to use. So classy, so elegant…it didn't feel…when you looked at her, you could see that she was in control of what she wanted to do. She was timing the ball; she was hitting, picking the pockets in which she wanted to attack.
She trained two days prior to the game, and we've been having a lot of chats about her batting and how she's feeling, and I reckon that her last training session [on Wednesday] was among the best she had batted,” the RCB coach added.
"I know she would have loved to have finished the game [in the final as well], but what an innings. We've worked now for four years together. With Smriti, I think both of us know exactly what our roles are within the tournament. So, it's very clear between us—good camaraderie, I'd say. I've thoroughly enjoyed working with her, and hopefully that continues for RCB for a while now,” Rangarajan further said.
Rangarajan described Mandhana as a "feel" player in all aspects of her game, including the way she taps the bat, how it comes down, and how it hits the center.
"She's a nerd when it comes to her batting. I guess that's why she's ended up achieving what she's achieved in life, always looking to improve, always looking to get better at her skill. Whenever she's batting, she's like, 'I'm going to try this; I'm going to try that.' A little wide-base, something or the other—Smriti always tries. And I think, luckily and fortunately for us, she cracked the code two days back [against UP Warriorz], and she was very, very comfortable.
She led the team by example and set the standards in every training session. I'd be doing a disservice even if I tried saying how good Smriti has been in these last months,” he added.