Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), probably the rivalry of the Women's Premier League (WPL) and the two teams produced a clash that lived up to the hype as it went down to the wire and the home team prevailed in a thriller by just one run. The Capitals were ahead of the game for the most part before Richa Ghosh with her pyrotechnics kept RCB in the game and almost pulled off a miraculous heist single-handedly. However, it ended up in a heartbreak for the RCB as Ghosh got run out on the final ball of the match when they needed two runs to win.
Ghosh slammed a 28-ball fifty and even though the likes of Ellyse Perry and Sophie Devine played their parts in the innings, it was the 20-year-old Indian wicketkeeper who stood her ground and almost pulled it off for RCB. Needing 17 to win off the final over, Ghosh belted sixes off the first and the fifth deliveries to bring down the equation to two needed off the last ball. Jess Jonassen bowled it full on the leg stump and Ghosh played it to the backward point fielder where Shafali picked up and threw in a jiffy.
Ghosh was late to start but still looked like she had completed her run but the replays showed that she was short just by an inch or two and the hesitation at the start might have cost her as the match could have gone to the super over. It was heartbreaking for RCB and the two batters, Ghosh and Shreyanka Patil in the middle. While Ghosh was the star with the bat for RCB, with the ball it was Patil who took 4/26.
Both couldn't hold their emotions back and were in tears after the dismissal. While Richa was on her haunches and just laid on the ground for a minute while Shreyanka, on the other hand, too was motionless before the customary shaking of hands during which both were teary-eyed.
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It was agony for RCB but joy for the Capitals, who lost a close game by just one run a couple of nights ago against the UP Warriorz. The Capitals became the second team to qualify for the WPL 2024 playoffs and returned to the top spot on the points table.
