RCB Heartbreak: Smriti Mandhana Fights Tears, Richa Ghosh Despair as Delhi Capitals Seal Thrilling Win in WPL 2024 Clash

RCB Heartbreak: Smriti Mandhana Fights Tears, Richa Ghosh Despair as Delhi Capitals Seal Thrilling Win in WPL 2024 Clash

The Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024 saw an exciting match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium for the third consecutive night. The Delhi Capitals, who defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by one run, became the second team to qualify for the playoffs, behind the defending champion Mumbai Indians. With a fiery 29-ball fifty-one, Richa Ghosh led RCB in a heroic comeback. Still, he was unable to duplicate the feat Harmanpreet Kaur accomplished for the Mumbai Indians the night before, as the visitors lost the run chase, severely harming their chances of making the playoffs.

RCB lost skipper Smriti Mandhana early in Sunday’s 182-run chase in New Delhi, but they rallied behind Sophie Molineux and Ellyse Perry’s 80-run partnership. The Delhi Capitals made a comeback, dismissing both batsmen in five deliveries, but RCB found another combination between Sophie Devine and Ghosh that would score 49 runs. Marizanne Kapp dismissed Devine after the timeout, enabling Ghosh to pursue the run by himself. The wicketkeeper-batter hit two sixes to cut the deficit to 2 off 1 with 17 needed off the final over, but her nerves got the better of her, and she was caught just short of leading RCB to an incredible victory.

Another Classic in #TATAWPL @DelhiCapitals win the match by 1 RUN! They jump to the top of points table 🔝

Scoreboard 💻 📱 https://t.co/b7pHKEKqiN#DCvRCB pic.twitter.com/znJ27EhXS6

— Women's Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) March 10, 2024

Ghosh created space to drive the last delivery, a fuller one from Jess Jonassen, towards the backward point, but Shafali Verma, positioned precisely there, caught the ball and threw it back to the bowler, who promptly shattered the stumps. RCB lost by one run; therefore, Ghosh’s long dive was insufficient. Ghosh stayed there for a long time, head bowed, inconsolable until rivals Shafali and Jemimah Rodrigues comforted her. Meg Lanning, the DC skipper, arrived and hugged her too. Mandhana, too, was devastated and fought back tears when RCB lost the competition for the second time in a row.

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During the post-match presentation, Mandhana remarked, “Tough loss to take.” “In the WPL and international cricket, we have seen a lot of Richa; sadly, Perry was run out when she played brilliantly. The final ball of the match might have gone either way, so it was good for Delhi to maintain composure and prevail. We are not a bad team because of one run. Good job limiting them to 180 with the shorter barrier. We genuinely thought we could find a solution to this.” RCB still has a game left on Tuesday against the Mumbai Indians to strengthen their playoff qualification argument.

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