She was brilliant for RCB throughout the season.
While the focus was on batting brilliance in the second innings, a player who quietly did her job for RCB in the WPL 2026 final was Lauren Bell. She bowled a fabulous spell in a high-scoring clash against Delhi Capitals, helping her team restrict them to 203/4, when they could have scored a lot more in the first innings.
Bell didn’t pick any wickets but conceded only 19 runs at an economy rate of 4.75 in his four-over set. 50% of her deliveries were dot balls, and she conceded only two boundaries despite bowling three overs in the powerplay and one at the back end.
No other RCB or DC bowler had a better economy rate, as all of them went for 8.50 runs per over or more in a match with a collective run rate of 10.30. Smriti Mandhana was quick to point out Lauren Bell’s contribution with the ball, labelling her spell as match-winning.
“200-plus in the final is definitely a good score. I thought that in the last four overs, we definitely bowled well and pulled it [back] a little better. Again, credit to Lauren Bell. I mean, 400 [runs scored] in a match and she goes for like four overs, 20-odd runs. That, for me, is a match-winning spell.”
Lauren Bell’s spell in the WPL 2026 final wasn’t a one-off; she was their lead bowler throughout the tournament. Overall, she picked up 12 wickets at an average of 16.58, and her economy rate of 5.52 was the best among all bowlers who bowled at least five overs in the season.
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In fact, the English pacer was the only bowler to concede fewer than run-a-ball despite bowling the fourth-most number of overs (36) in WPL 2026. Bell’s best impact came in the powerplay with the new ball, where she was comfortably the most dangerous bowler, generating excessive movement and bowling with immaculate consistency.
She was the joint second-highest wicket-taker during the field restrictions, snaring six wickets at 23.17 runs apiece and an economy rate of 5.35, the second-best after Shabnim Ismail (5.20) among bowlers with more than five powerplay overs. She had the highest dot% (63.46) and balls-per-boundary ratio (7.09) in the same filter.
RCB didn’t shy from front-loading her early on, with a whopping 72.22% of her total WPL 2026 overs coming inside the initial six sets of the innings only. On a Vadodara surface that offered the best conditions for batting, Lauren Bell once again underlined the value of accuracy, producing the decisive difference between the two teams in the final.
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