WPL 2024: Delhi Capitals edges Royal Challengers Bangalore in last-ball thriller

With two runs needed off the last ball, Richa managed to get a full ball to backward point but some smart work from Jonassen found her short of the crease at the non-strikers end.

Delhi Capitals team celebrate after the last ball run out during the WPL Match against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium in New Delhi. | Photo Credit: R V Moorthy / The Hindu

A superior fielding effort and sheer resilience saw home side Delhi Capitals seal a heart-stopping one-run win against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here on Sunday.

Needing 182 to win, RCB lost skipper Smriti Mandhana early. Ellyse Perry and Sophie Molineux’s 80-run stand consolidated the chase. A dramatic 11th over saw Alice Capsey first drop Perry at long off. Shikha Pandey and Taniya Bhatia made sure Capsey and DC didn’t pay a heavy price, running out the Aussie allrounder off the last ball of the same over.

After Arundhati Reddy dismissed Molineux, the onus fell on Sophie Devine and Richa Ghosh’s shoulders. With 40 needed off the last 18, Marizanne Kapp dismissed Devine off the first ball of the 18th. It boiled down to Richa with 17 needed off the last over.

Richa creamed the ball over Jess Jonassen’s head for six. Disha Kasat was run out with no contribution to the scoreboard of the next. After a nervy couple of runs, Richa got the maximum over the longest side of boundary to bring up her fifty.

With two runs needed off the last ball, Jonassen went full with Richa just managing to get the ball to backward point. Some sharp work from Jonassen saw her first smash the stumps at the non-strikers and do the same at the other end. The review showed Richa well short of the crease, sending DC into the playoffs.

Richa was inconsolable at the end of it all, with Meg Lanning, Jemimah Rodrigues and others going up to comfort her. “This will sting but the sun will rise tomorrow and she’ll get over it,” Perry said after the game.

Earlier, Lanning opted to bat with the Capitals starting cautiously. With the openers falling soon after the PowerPlay, Alice Capsey and Jemimah took over the baton frustrating the RCB bowlers no end, stitching a 97-run partnership which ultimately helped the side put up a competitive total.

No total is safe at the Kotla but if there was a team to defend one when the chasing side was going hammer and tongs, it was a fielding side as relentless as the Capitals.