Mandhana Left Irritated By Cameraperson At WPL Opener. Video Goes Viral

Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain Smriti Mandhana was left irritated by a cameraperson ahead of the WPL 2026 opener against Mumbai Indians on Friday. In a video going viral on social media, Mandhana could be seen practicing on the ground when she was interrupted by a cameraperson. He came too close to the cricketer as she was facing throwdowns and the Indian women's cricket team star was clearly irritated by the interruption. Mandhana scored just 18 off 13 deliveries in the match while her side pulled off a stunning three-wicket victory thanks to an explosive batting performance by Nadine de Klerk.

Following her side's win over the Mumbai Indians (MI) in a thrilling Women's Premier League (WPL) campaign opener, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) skipper Smriti Mandhana expressed happiness at how her team is "known to play thrillers" and it was her side which was on the winning side after losing some highly-entertaining matches last season.

Cameraman not leaving Smrithi alone to practice and see Smrithi's reactionpic.twitter.com/QVF8q4WTzw

— RCB (@RCBtweetzz) January 9, 2026

The clash between Indian skipper Harmanpreet, leading the Mumbai Indians (MI) and the vice-captain Smriti Mandhana, the RCB skipper, lived up to the monumental hype built after India's maiden World Cup title last year as an all-round show from Nadine de Klerk powered the Red and Gold side to a thrilling three-wicket win against the defending champions at Navi Mumbai's DY Patil Stadium on Friday.

Speaking during the post-match presentation, Smriti said, "I think for the first match of the WPL, it was a thriller. And RCB are known to play thrillers. Last year, we were on the receiving end of these matches, so happy that we pulled it off. Brilliant from Nadine to finish the match like that. Everyone was pretty positive. We were having a laugh. Even when things were not going well, everyone was pretty positive."

She also spoke on how Nadine had snatched a match for South Africa during last year's World Cup against India from the jaws of defeat, powering her side to a successful chase of 250-odd runs from a troublesome situation at 142/6 with her 84* at Visakhapatnam and said that just like MI's Sajeevan Sajana had made them pay for a catch drop with some quick runs, they were hoping Nadine would also unleash her sixes after getting dropped by Nat Sciver Brunt.

"Yeah, we saw that in Visakhapatnam when she played that innings against us (during the World Cup). And I was just telling our head coach, Malolan, that I think we were in a similar situation against South Africa in the World Cup match, and she pulled it off. And I think when she got dropped, we just said that when we dropped, Sajana got runs - let us hope she gets two sixes. And she actually got them," she added.

(With ANI inputs)