Richa Ghosh’s heartbreak — of lone wolves, fine margins and the power of the pack

She was the oddson favourite among the press corps covering the match to pull off a heist the way Harmanpreet did the night before, but alas, sport giveth and sport taketh in equal measure

ow do you console a player who fought tooth and nail to get her team to a win only to fall short by a run? What are the right words? The few seconds of silence from Royal Challengers Bangalore coach Luke Williams as he lauded Richa Ghosh’s efforts in the debrief after a crushing onerun loss to Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here on Sunday said it all.

After Harmanpreet Kaur’s storm of an innings against Gujarat Giants, an interesting conversation ensued among journalists walking out of the Feroz Shah Kotla premises a day prior. “Barring Harmanpreet, who can pull off a heist like this?” rang the motion. Richa was the unanimous choice and what an ending it would have been to that script if she had pulled it off against one of the best sides in the league in a match where her team needed a win to secure its survival. Alas! Sport giveth and sport taketh away in equal measure.

HCrestfallen

When Shafali Verma and Jess Jonassen pulled off that run out off the very last ball, Richa and Shreyanka Patil at the other end froze, not knowing how to process what had just happened. Shreyanka, squatting at the striker’s end, had her face buried in her palms while Richa, was flat on the ground after a dive that went in vain, perhaps hoping for the ground to swallow her whole. The world went on around them; DC players shook the umpires hands, broadcast teams brought out their standees for player interviews, the postmatch presentation space was set up and groundsmen came on to begin their duties for the day. But these two stood still.

Alice Capsey walked up to Shreyanka, who sobbed herself into a ball, while Jemimah sat down with Richa, comforting her India teammate. She was joined by Meg Lanning who gave Richa a few pats on the head. From a competitor as fierce as her and one who is not verbose in praise or brickbats, this is as good as it comes. But nothing would unshatter the pair. Needing 17 off the last over, a cramping Richa and Disha Kasat had a mountain to climb mentally. Lanning turned to her trusted soldier Jonassen who, for years, has struck fears in opponents across the world with her ability to dump pressure in the bin.

“I knew that at the start of the over, if I could set it up without going for a boundary in one of the first two balls, then we were sort of well and truly on the front foot. But, getting hit for a massive six down the ground was not ideal, and then I gave it too much air for her in the second last ball,” Jonassen said after the game.

Lanning and Jonassen spoke before every ball. Field tweaks were made, instructions were screamed across the field. After that six over Jonassen’s head which brought the target down to 11 off 5, Jonassen fired into Richa, allowing no space to make anything of the ball. Dot. Richa then ran two, struggling to finish her run having kept wickets for 20 overs before coming on to bat. Jonassen then went slow, with Richa managing to get it over to long off. The pair ran yet again as Jonassen waited for the throw at the nonstrikers’ end. She clipped the stumps just after the batters crossed, sending Disha back to the pavilion.

While DC celebrated the run out, Lanning — in quintessential Doctor Strange style — calculated all possible elements and ran to the umpire to check if the pair had crossed. Had that gone their way, it would be curtains for Richa. But the 20yearold lived to bat some more.

In walked Shreyanka. Richa then dispatched a length ball to midwicket and uncomfortably scrambled for two once more, her partner darting across but constantly egging her on to finish the run. RCB and the collective nervous system of the Kotla needed a big hit and Richa delivered, this time creaming the ball over the longest part of the ground to bring the requirement to two runs off the last ball.

That also brought Richa her fifty. S Meghana, who was puzzlingly dropped for this game, turned around to hug Renuka. Sophie Devine was thoroughly entertained as she thumped the seat in front of her in admiration.

Lanning and Jonassen plotted once more, this chat a tad longer than the others. It’s safe to assume that all 23,453 people in the stands were on their feet, perhaps chewing away what was left of their fingernails.

Jonassen went in full on the stumps, targeting Richa’s toes. Richa took a step back to give herself room and smacked the ball which ended up slicing its way to Shafali Verma at backward point who sent it straight back to Jonassen. The Aussie allrounder first thrashed the stumps at the nonstriker’s and then hurled the ball to the stumps at Shreyanka’s end too. While DC celebrated, the review confirmed what RCB dreaded most. The side fell short yet again, by inches this time. This bunch, the Indian youngsters, have seen far too many heartbreaking win. At no stage did the side look deflated. Despite the Sophie Molineux opening act backfiring a little, RCB being blessed with a deep batting order helped them wield card after card of proven match winners – Perry, Devine, Wareham (in good touch with the bat), Richa, Shreyanka… Sunday’s chase, barring a blip from captain Smriti Mandhana which saw her being dismissed identically to other instances from this very season, was a commendable effort. The question marks need to arise with their efforts on the field. Shreyanka’s fourfer, coming from a player working off a niggle, was the end of the spectrum all players needed to work to. The efforts on the field were lacklustre, like they have been for much of this edition. Boundaries are allowed, the odd (yet valuable) catch is dropped and the intent to place a chokehold on the runs has largely been missing.

It is this that separated RCB from DC on the day. Even when the target looked within RCB’s grasp, Lanning never switched off. Plans A till Z were in place and the Capitals were relentless. In the 16th over, Marizanne Kapp who looked a little gingerly throughout this game, dove to stop a ball from racing away to the boundary. Arundhati covered the boundary ropes like her life was at stake. Jemimah hurled herself in the air even for attempts she knew she might not catch and was clean with the ones well within her reach.

DC was superior but not flawless, Capsey dropping a sitter that could have sent Perry off is an example. While the allrounder was run out a few deliveries later, this would have been a moment that DC could have looked back in disdain if RCB’s stars had aligned. This moment stands out not so much for its place in the match but for what it said about this team’s character. After Perry was run out, a natural celebration ensued by the wicket. Jemimah, meanwhile, ran all the way to Capsey at long off and patted her on the back, reassuring her that the worst was over and it was to be forgotten. These little things, to carry the side along even in error sets this outfit apart.

It was a weekend of edgeoftheseat thrillers that would make anyone’s cardiac fibre tremble. From Harmanpreet in the MIGG game and Deepti in the UPWDC encounter to even Richa in this clash, this leg, and the tournament at large, has seen its fair share of individual heroes, stepping up when their team had had their backs to a wall. Lone wolves, though, can only go so far. For the strength of the wolf is the pack and gosh, did the pack thrive!

DDDDR.V. MOORTHY

Richa’s ability to strike the ball long has come in handy in fashioning her as a finisher in the shortest format. Meanwhile, National coach Amol Muzumdar has chosen to switch her to a No. 3 batter in ODIs and Tests

In the 2024 edition, Richa has scored 190 runs so far with two halfcenturies at an average of 38

This is an improvement from the 138 she scored in seven innings for the same franchise last season. Her strikerate has improved from 135.29 to 158.33

RCB’s onerun loss to DC makes its qualification for the playoffs difficult, with a large part of its fate testing in the hands of other teams. The franchise has one league game left, against Mumbai Indians on March 12