Courtesy: WPL
On Friday, February 14, in the opening match of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2025, defending champion Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) started their campaign in style as they defeated Gujarat Giants (GG) by six wickets at the Kotambi Stadium in Vadodara. After GG got past 200 runs on the back of a six-fest from their captain Ashleigh Gardner, it was Richa Ghosh’s magnificent fifty, which helped RCB get across the line with nine balls to spare.
For the unversed, after winning the toss, Smriti Mandhana, the captain of Royal Challengers Bengaluru, decided to field first, and her decision paid dividends as they picked up the wickets of Laura Wolvaardt and Dayalan Hemalatha cheaply. Opener Beth Mooney controlled the GG innings with her fifty, scoring 56 runs in 42 balls with eight fours before captain Ashleigh Gardner took over from her with three consecutive sixes against Prema Rawat.
The right-handed batter continued on her six-hitting spree, scoring 79 runs in just 38 balls with three fours and eight maximums, to play a key role in Gujarat Giants scoring 201/5 in their allotted overs. Deandra Dottin also contributed with 25 runs in just 13 balls for her team, which included three fours and a maximum, while for RCB, Renuka Singh registered figures of 1/25 in her four-over spell.
In pursuit of the 202-run target, Royal Challengers Bengaluru lost the wicket of their captain Smriti Mandhana and Danni Wyatt-Hodge cheaply in the first powerplay stage to Ashleigh Gardner. Following that, Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry (57 off 34) shared a 86-run stand for the third wicket with Raghvi Bist, who played second fiddle to her with 26 off 27, to bring RCB’s innings back on track.
After Perry and Bist lost their wickets in quick succession, it was the unbeaten partnership of 93 runs between two Indian players, namely Richa Ghosh and Kanika Ahuja, which ensured that RCB won the opening match of the WPL 2025 in a comfortable manner. Ghosh scored 64 runs in just 27 balls with seven fours and four sixes, while Ahuja contributed 30 runs in the partnership in just 13 balls with four fours.
