Deepti Sharma: We are going to bowl first. The ball moves in the powerplay. We have the same mindset as the last game. The toss doesn't matter much for me. The way we play our cricket matters more than anything else.

UP Warriorz Women have won the toss and have opted to field

Pitch report: It's pitch no. 7 with the square boundaries 58m each and 69m down the ground. A few patchy areas on the surface, but it's a nice grassy pitch. There might be some seam for the pace bowlers. The teams need to get wickets in the powerplay. The hard length area has been difficult to bat against. 170-180 could be a winning score here, reckons Julia Price.

18:20 Local Time, 12:50 GMT, 18:20 IST: The defending champions - RCB Women are off to a pretty good start this season and today they will lock horns with the UP Warriorz at the Chinnaswamy in Bengaluru. Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the 9th game of WPL 2025 folks! The UP Warriorz lost their first two games of the tournament, however, the win against Delhi Capitals Women might have given them some confidence as they opened their account in the points table. RCB Women have looked far superior than the Warriorz, hence they are the favourites coming into this contest. The crowd support will be another added advantage for RCB Women. Let’s hope we have an interesting contest, the toss and teams are not far away..

Preview:

RCB and UP Warriorz have made contrasting starts this season. While the defending champions kickstarted their title defence with two wins, UP Warriorz found themselves on the losing end in their first two games. RCB would have been highly hopeful of making it three in three halfway through the second innings against Mumbai Indians before the inaugural champions came out on top.

UP Warriorz on the other hand managed to break the trend this season of chasing teams prevailing every time. The opening seven matches of the season saw teams batting second emerge victorious before UPW managed to defend their total quite comfortably in the end last night against Delhi Capitals. But there is no time to rest on the laurels with the games coming thick and fast as it does in this tournament. Despite the win, UPW know that there are areas to work on.

There will be focus on their batting department, especially with the top four not firing consistently. Tahlia McGrath in particular will be looking to make a mark having not done so until now. Chinelle Henry has been terrific in both the games she has played so far. While a batting promotion cannot be ruled out, she would ideally like a helping hand from the other end.

As far as RCB are concerned, they would hope that the loss against MI was just a blip. Staring down a defeat in the first game, they came out on top in quite thrilling fashion before dismantling Capitals. They are also the only team having the luxury of playing four games at home this season. Now that they have lost the first of those four games, they would ideally want to put up a show in front of their home crowd and make this run of games count if they are to go far in the tournament once again.

When: Royal Challengers Bengaluru Women vs UP Warriorz, February 24, 2025, 7:30 PM

Where: M Chinnaswamy stadium, Bengaluru

What to expect: Clear skies are expected for the game. Scores of around 170 have been scored three out of four times so far, with spinners being amongst the wickets.

Team news

Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Despite the loss against MI, RCB would want to stick with the same side that helped them win their first two games.

Probable XI: Smriti Mandhana (c), Danielle Wyatt-Hodge, Ellyse Perry, Raghvi Bist, Richa Ghosh (wk), Kanika Ahuja, Georgia Wareham, Kim Garth, Ekta Bisht, Joshitha VJ, Renuka Thakur

UP Warriorz

It's unlikely they would want to break the combination that has helped them get off the mark but a promotion up the order for Henry could be on the cards given her strike rate in the tournament. She has smashed 11 out of the 38 balls she has faced, over the fence.

Probable XI: Kiran Navgire, Vrinda Dinesh, Deepti Sharma (c), Tahlia McGrath, Shweta Sehrawat, Chinelle Henry, Grace Harris, Sophie Ecclestone, Uma Chetry (wk), Kranti Goud, Saima Thakor

Squads:

UP Warriorz Women Squad: Kiran Navgire, Vrinda Dinesh, Deepti Sharma(c), Tahlia McGrath, Shweta Sehrawat, Grace Harris, Uma Chetry(w), Chinelle Henry, Sophie Ecclestone, Saima Thakor, Kranti Goud, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Alana King, Chamari Athapaththu, Arushi Goel, Poonam Khemnar, Anjali Sarvani, Gouher Sultana

Royal Challengers Bengaluru Women Squad: Smriti Mandhana(c), Danielle Wyatt-Hodge, Ellyse Perry, Raghvi Bist, Kanika Ahuja, Richa Ghosh(w), Georgia Wareham, Kim Garth, Ekta Bisht, Joshitha VJ, Renuka Singh Thakur, Sneh Rana, Sabbhineni Meghana, Nuzhat Parween, Heather Graham, Charlotte Dean, Jagravi Pawar, Prema Rawat