Richa Ghosh’s whirlwind effort falls short as RCB lose tense thriller to MI

Despite the wobbles by the batters, a valiant fightback from Richa Ghosh saw RCB duke it out till the very end against MI before they succumbed to their second defeat in WPL 2026.

In what was a high-scoring contest, the RCB bowlers couldn’t really conjure a solid show of defiance apart from Lauren Bell. The batters, however, were forced into an uncomfortable corner before Richa came out firing.

Winning the toss, RCB opted to bowl first. They went in with an unchanged XI from their last game against Delhi Capitals. Lauren Bell put up her usual show of brilliance and kept things in check with the new ball. In addition to her frugal bowling, she also claimed the wicket of Sajeevan Sajana (7).

However, an incoming Nat Sciver-Brunt took over the reins and RCB had to take a backseat. Hayley Matthews (56) and Sciver-Brunt carved together a crucial stand of 131 runs for the second wicket. Bell returned for her second spell, claiming the scalp of Matthews to offer hope to the Royal Challengers. Sadly, for RCB, despite Matthews falling, Nat continued with the onslaught, eventually staying unbeaten for 100 from 57 balls.

Mumbai Indians pumped out 199/4 from their 20 overs, courtesy of the first century being scored in the history of WPL by Nat Sciver-Brunt. Lauren Bell was the pick of the bowling lot with figures of 4-0-21-2.

With a target of 200 on the board, RCB needed a headstart and Grace Harris knuckled down to business from the start. She got off to 15 off eight balls before falling to Shabnim Ismail, a dismissal that sparked an unwanted collapse for the Royal Challengers.

Smriti Mandhana (6), Georgia Voll (9), Gautami Naik (1) and Radha Yadav (0) fell in quick succession, reducing RCB to a shocking 35/5. With still a mountain to scale, Nadine de Klerk walked in and joined forces with Richa Ghosh to steady the ship for RCB. The duo added 42 runs for the sixth wicket before de Klerk fell for 28 off 20 balls.

Coming out next to the center was Arundhati Reddy and RCB needed another solid partnership in the mix. Richa Ghosh ensured that she offered RCB the much-needed hope, going on with another clinical show of dominance despite the chaos surrounding her.

Another solid partnership between Reddy and Richa saw RCB claw their way to 129 before they lost another couple of wickets in no time. Reddy holed out to Amanjot Kaur off her own bowling while Sayali Satghare was run out on the first ball. Still a long way to go, it was needless to say that it all boiled down to Richa Ghosh to do the heavy lifting.

Richa unleashed the beast in her, smashing 90 off 50 balls, hammering 10 fours and six sixes. In fact, such was her rampage that in the final over against Amelia Kerr, she tripped once and yet managed to smash the ball out of her park. She fell on the last ball of the innings as RCB lost the game by 15 runs.

Shreyanka Patil was also unbeaten, playing a crucial cameo of 12 runs from just five balls, hammering three fours along the way. The ninth wicket partnership between Shreyanka and Richa added 55 runs from just 19 balls. At the end of the game, RCB stayed at the top with a healthy NRR of +0.947.

RCB return to action on Thursday where they play their last group stage fixture against the UP Warriorz.