On Sunday, March 10, Delhi Capitals defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by one run to reach the top spot of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024 standings. On the last ball of the match, Richa Ghosh, who had smashed two sixes in the final over, needed to score two runs, but she got herself run out instead, in a heartbreaking moment.
For the unversed, the captain of Delhi Capitals, Meg Lanning, won the toss and decided to bat first at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. Alongside Shafali Verma, she gave a fast start to the hosts in the powerplay, but shortly after, both openers lost their wickets in the 20s.
It led to the pairing of Jemimah Rodrigues (58) and Alice Capsey (48) stitching together an impressive partnership of 97 runs for the third wicket before Shreyanka Patil castled them in back-to-back overs. Ultimately, Delhi Capitals reached a formidable score of 181/5 in their allotted overs, giving themselves the best chance to come back to winning ways after a heartbreaking loss a couple of nights ago.
In the pursuit of a 182-run target, Royal Challengers Bangalore lost the key wicket of their captain Smriti Mandhana for just five runs. Ellyse Perry walked to the crease at the No. 3 spot, to join the new RCB opener Sophie Molineux, sharing an 80-run stand for the second wicket, to put her team well on their way to chasing down the runs ahead of them.
But then, Ellyse Perry (49) and Sophie Molineux (33) lost their wickets in back-to-back overs, tilting the balance of the contest slightly in favour of Delhi Capitals. The two new batters, Sophie Devine and Richa Ghosh, put together a 49-run stand for the fourth wicket, to keep the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the contest, with their scorecard reading 142/4 at the beginning of the 18th over.
Richa Ghosh was on strike in the beginning of the last over against Jess Jonassen, with RCB needing 17 runs. She smashed a couple of sixes in the first five balls of the over, to reduce the equation down to 2 off 1, but ultimately, her 51 off 29 went in vain after she got run out on the last ball.