Smriti Mandhana Hid High Fever Before WPL Final, Reveals RCB Head Coach

Smriti Mandhana played the WPL final despite a severe fever, scoring 87 for RCB, revealed head coach Malolan Rangarajan.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru head coach Malolan Rangarajan revealed that Smriti Mandhana played the WPL final while fighting a serious fever. Mandhana kept the flu a secret and remained available for selection against the Delhi Capitals.

In the final, the left-handed opener scored 87 from 41 balls, hitting 12 fours and 3 sixes. Her innings helped RCB chase 204, the highest successful chase in a WPL final. The win sealed RCB’s second WPL title and made Mandhana only the second captain to lift the trophy twice.

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Rangarajan highlighted Mandhana’s commitment and mental strength, noting she showed no visible signs of discomfort. He also pointed out her preparation, revealing she trained only two days before the match. He praised her control, timing, and shot selection, calling it one of her finest innings under pressure.

“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 (No, there’s no problem), I’ll be there.’ So that’s her with her work ethic,” Rangarajan said after the six-wicket win.

“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 chat about her batting, how she’s feeling and I reckon that her last training session [on Wednesday] was among the best she had batted,” he added.

Smriti Mandhana Tops WPL Run Charts

Malolan Rangarajan then noted Smriti Mandana’s constant drive to improve as a key factor behind her success. He described her as deeply invested in refining technique and experimenting with adjustments.

“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,” the coach said.

Mandhana finished the WPL 2026 season as the tournament’s leading run-scorer, with 377 runs.