RCB are faced with a conundrum ahead of WPL 2026: Who opens the batting with Smriti Mandhana and who replaces Ellyse Perry at No.3?
One of the most important selection calls Royal Challengers Bengaluru must make in WPL 2026 is who opens the batting alongside Smriti Mandhana. Why Ellyse Perry won’t play WPL 2026 for RCB is irrelevant, but importantly, now that it is known, RCB need to plan their next step. RCB’s top-order structure is no longer settled, and the opening combination will directly influence how the rest of the batting order falls into place.
We do an RCB squad for WPL 2026 analysis to gauge the best opening options available to partner Mandhana at the top.
3 Players Who Could Open For RCB Alongside Smriti Mandhana in WPL 2026
RCB have multiple options for Smriti Mandhana opening partner role, but none without trade-offs.
Georgia Voll
- Powerplay impact: Proven ability to maximise the first six overs with clean striking against pace; WPL strike rate of 167.39 shows immediate translation to Indian conditions.
- Upward trajectory: Back-to-back high-output seasons in 2024 (SR 144.4) and 2025 (SR 141.08) indicate she can combine volume with tempo at the top.
- Role clarity: A natural opener who simplifies RCB’s batting structure and reduces early-innings experimentation.
Georgia Voll is the most straightforward choice to open with Mandhana. She offers aggression, clean striking against pace, and the ability to maximise the powerplay. From a role clarity perspective, this is the simplest solution.
However, using Voll as a fixed opener reduces flexibility later in the innings. It also places greater responsibility on the middle order to absorb pressure once the field spreads. While Voll provides early momentum, RCB lose the option of deploying her selectively based on match-ups.
Across her T20 career (2020–2025), Voll has scored 2004 runs at a strike rate of 125.25, with her value rising sharply away from home. In away conditions, she averages 27.89 at a strike rate of 127.69. Her recent trajectory is also encouraging. In 2024 and 2025, Voll combined volume with tempo, scoring 452 runs in 2024 at a strike rate of 144.4, followed by 649 runs in 2025 at a strike rate of 141.08. Those seasons underline her evolution from a cameo player.
In WPL-specific conditions, the sample size is small but promising. Voll has scored 154 runs from three WPL innings at a strike rate of 167.39, including a 99*, showing she can translate domestic intent to Indian surfaces.
Gautami Naik
- Existing Mandhana partnership: Recently opened with Mandhana in the 2025 Women’s Maharashtra Premier League, scoring 173 runs in six innings as the third-highest run-scorer.
- Structural balance: Allows RCB to push Harris, Richa Ghosh and de Klerk into impact roles in the middle and death overs.
- New-ball stability: Profiles as a domestic top-order batter comfortable facing the hard ball, rather than a finisher repurposed upward.
Gautami Naik presents a more structural option. She opened alongside Mandhana in the Maharashtra Premier League, giving RCB a domestic opening alternative that allows them to stack the middle order. In the 2025 Women’s Maharashtra Premier League, Naik finished as the third-highest run-scorer, scoring 173 runs in six innings.
Naik also played a key part in Maharashtra’s title-winning run in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy, reinforcing her credentials as a top-order stabiliser.
If Naik opens, RCB can keep their overseas firepower of Grace Harris, Richa Ghosh and Nadine de Klerk for the middle and death overs. Having represented Nagaland, Baroda and Maharashtra in domestic cricket, Naik’s recent output explains why RCB see her as more than a reserve batter. The risk is clear: Naik has limited WPL experience and would be stepping into a high-pressure role against elite bowling attacks. This option prioritises balance over certainty.
Grace Harris
- Proven WBBL opener: 1599 runs in 67 WBBL opening innings at a strike rate of 125.9, including a century, confirms comfort against the new ball.
- Power without slot sacrifice: Provides powerplay aggression while keeping RCB’s overseas balance intact elsewhere in the XI.
- Flexibility edge: Can open or slide back to No.3/4 depending on conditions, giving RCB tactical adaptability game to game.
Grace Harris is not an unfamiliar option at the top, even if she is more often framed as a middle-order disruptor. While Harris has opened only five times for Australia, her WBBL record as an opener is extensive and proven.
Across nine WBBL seasons (2016–2025), Harris has opened in 67 innings, scoring 1599 runs at an average of 25.79 and a strike rate of 125.9, including a century and eight fifties. Those numbers underline her comfort against the new ball and her ability to maintain tempo without reckless risk.
Harris opening with Smriti Mandhana is not a left-field move but a statistically backed option, especially if RCB want powerplay intent without sacrificing overseas slots elsewhere.
