Richa Ghosh of Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kanika Ahuja of Royal Challengers Bangalore celebrating win during match 1 of the Women’s Premier League 2025 (WPL) between The Gujarat Giants and The Royal Challengers Bangalore held at the BCA Stadium, Vadodara, India on the 14th February 2025. (Sportzpics)
Even before a ball was bowled in the third season of the Women’s Premier League, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) were dealt some major blows as they aimed to defend their title. Leading up to the tournament, they lost the services of Sophie Devine, Sophie Molineux and Asha Sobhana. Shreyanka Patil’s name was absent from the playing XI in the first game and she posted on social media: “Heartbroken, but I will fly again,” casting doubt over whether she can be fit for the season.
Then, Ellyse Perry confirmed pre-match on Friday that she wouldn’t be bowling in the early part of the tournament at least because of a hip issue. That meant, from the 2024 WPL final, RCB lost all of their wicket-takers
But their batting firepower was intact, and it helped them beat Gujarat Giants (GG) by six wickets in Vadodara with nine balls remaining, chasing 202, the record successful run-chase in WPL history.
RCB understandably struggled in the first half against Gujarat Giants, who were powered by a sensational batting effort by their new captain Ash Gardner on their way to the big total. But it was not enough, as the defending champions flexed their batting muscle, with a generous helping hand(s) from GG’s fielders. Perry showed that she is mighty important to RCB even as a pure batter, but the headline act was an unbroken 93-run stand off just 37 balls between Richa Ghosh and Kanika Ahuja.
The chase was massively assisted by the Giants’ poor catching. Perry was dropped on 2, a slightly tough return catch to Tanuja Kanwe, and then on 19 when Harleen Deol dropped a sitter at long-on. The Aussie superstar went on to score a superb 57 off 34 balls to drag RCB back into the chase after early setbacks. Then Simran Shaikh dropped Richa when she wasn’t even off the mark, and it proved to be game-changing as the wicketkeeper-batter plundered 64 off 27 at a strike rate of 237.03. Add to all this, some woeful ground fielding, with overthrows and misfields even from their top overseas players, as the Giants threw away a win that was in their hands.
“Flattening to be honest,” Gardner said. “I knew 200 was only about par halfway, we had to bowl really well. Unfortunately, we dropped some chances which hurt us in the end. Disappointing with the second half but there were some good glimpses. When you do miss those chances, it can hurt you. Richa capitalised on that, rode her luck, but batted beautifully to take them to a win.”
RCB will relish this hard-fought win but their bowling department is going to be tested big time. Between Shreyanka, Molineux and Asha, RCB had the three top wicket-takers of the tournament (a total of 37 wickets between them) last year. That’s the measure of the task facing them. GG went from 53/2 after 9 overs to 201/5, scoring 108 runs in the last 11 overs. Mandhana said the bowling would have to step up going forward, but the fight she saw from her depleted side would give her confidence.
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Gardner said before the season that forgetting what happened in the last two seasons would be a good start for GG as they look to climb out of the bottom of the table. Despite shining in a personal capacity, she just might have to add the opening match of the third season to the list of things to forget.
Vinayakk Mohanarangan is Senior Assistant Editor and is based in New Delhi. … Read More
