Less than two weeks out from the Womens Premier League (WPL) 2026, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) women’s team has been handed a massive setback as star Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry has pulled out from the upcoming competition in India.
The WPL 2026 is slated to kick off on January 9 at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai, where defending champions Mumbai Indians, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, will host Smriti Mandhana’s RCB, who lifted the title in 2024.
The tournament featuring 22 matches across 28 days in Mumbai and Vadodara will conclude on February 5.
However, for the first time after three seasons, the WPL will not witness Perry, whose absence has put a huge hole in RCB’s line-up and plans, as the Aussie cricketer has been a key cog in their success in the last two seasons through her all-round heroics.
Why Ellyse Perry Will Not Play In WPL 2026 For RCB?
Australia and RCB all-rounder Ellyse Perry has withdrawn from the WPL 2026 due to “personal reasons,” said a release from the WPL. RCB have replaced Perry with pace-bowling all-rounder Sayali Satghare at her base price of INR 30 lakhs.
Sayali played three WODIs for India in 2025 and four WPL matches for Gujarat Giants in the last two seasons but had gone unsold in the recent WPL auction.
There has been no indication of the exact reasons for Perry’s withdrawal yet. She was in terrific form during the WBBL 2025 recently, where, playing for the Sydney Sixers women, Perry hammered 412 runs in the tournament, the most by anyone from her team, at an average of 51 and a strike rate of 141, with two fifties and one century.
Across three seasons of the WPL for RCBW, Ellyse Perry played 25 games, scoring 972 runs at an average of 64 and notching up eight half-centuries, with a highest score of 90*. She also claimed 14 wickets while maintaining an economy of under 8.3.
Perry is the second-leading run-getter in the WPL’s short history and was the highest scorer in RCB’s title-winning campaign in WPL 2024. In the final against Delhi Capitals Women, she scored 35*, anchoring the chase of 114 runs.
RCB squad for WPL 2026:
Smriti Mandhana (c), Richa Ghosh (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Grace Harris, Gautami Naik, Linsey Smith, Radha Yadav, Lauren Bell, Prema Rawat, Arundhati Reddy, Nadine de Klerk, Georgia Voll, Shreyanka Patil, D. Hemalatha, Prathyoosha Kumar, Ellyse Perry replaced by Sayali Satghare.
When will WPL 2026 start?
The WPL 2026 will get underway on January 9, with Mumbai Indians taking on RCB at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
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