Royal Challengers Bengaluru sign Lauren Bell during WPL 2026 mega auction

Lauren Bell is yet to feature in the Women’s Premier League (WPL), but her dream will end for the 2026 season of the tournament as she will turn up for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). The England pacer has a decent experience of the shortest format, having collected 50 wickets in 36 innings of the Women’s T20Is at an average of nearly 19 and a strike rate of 15.4 with an economy rate of around seven. 

Lauren Bell will join the Australia all-rounder, Elysse Perry, in the squad, which will be a massive balancing prospect for the franchise in the bowling department. Bell has been a successful campaigner in the Women’s The Hundred event where she has collected 60 wickets in 41 innings at an average of around 15 and an economy rate of under seven.

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Bell can swing the ball in both ways and use the powerplay to pick wickets, which will be important for the Bengaluru, besides pushing their spinners to attack in the second half of the innings.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru add Lauren Bell in WPL 2026 mega auction for INR 90 lakh

Coming into the auction, Bengaluru already had packed their core group in the presence of their captain and star opening batter of the Indian team, Smriti Mandhana along with the young wicket-keeper lower-order batter, Richa Ghosh, in the squad. They also had Shreyanka Patil as the Indian spinner in the squad.

Bengaluru started the auction with the inclusion of the Australia top order batter, Gorgia Voll, besides having Nadine de Clerk from South Africa as the all-rounder will be important along with Ghosh to contribute fiercely with the bat.

The fourth edition of the tournament will be held from January 09 to February 05, 2026, at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai and Vadodara being confirmed as the two host venues.

Updated squad for Royal Challengers Bengaluru ahead of WPL 2026

Smriti Mandhana, Richa Ghosh, Ellyse Perry, Shreyanka Patil, Georgia Voll (Rs. 0.60 crore), Nadine de Klerk (Rs. 0.65 crore), Radha Yadav (Rs. 0.65 crore), Lauren Bell (Rs. 0.90 crore), Linsey Smith (Rs. 0.30 crore), Prema Rawat (Rs. 0.20 crore-RTM),