- RCB defended their Title with a 6-wicket Win
- Match 1 of WPL 2025 saw the Highest Run-Chase so far
- Richa Ghosh takes the Player of the Match title
Defending champions team Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) secured a thrilling six-wicket victory over Gujarat Giants (GG) in their TATA WPL 2025 season opener, securing a 201-run target with nine balls to spare. Starting the match with a winning note, the partnership of Richa Ghosh and Kanika Ahuja pulled down the run chase at the BCA Stadium in Vadodara.
RCB secured the most successful chase in WPL history with a 200-plus run stand, chasing down a target of 201 with nine balls to spare, becoming the first team to achieve this feat.
RCB won the toss and fielded first, with Beth Mooney and Laura Wolvaardt opening the innings from GG. However, RCB grabbed an early wicket as Renuka Thakur dismissed Laura during the fifth over, and in the meantime, Dayalan Hemalatha was also sent back. Beth Mooney came out strong, smashing a hat-trick of boundaries and completing her half-century in just 37 deliveries. Mooney later got trapped by RCB debutant Prema Rawat.GG was later safeguarded, as the new skipper Ashleigh Gardner held the command through her sixes and boundaries, lifting the game. Ashleigh and Deandra Dottin led GG to a 148/3 score with a hat-trick of sixes off Rawat. Gardner scored 79 off 37 deliveries, while Renuka eliminated Dottin. Gardner scored 53 runs off the last four overs, finishing at 201/5.
During the second innings, RCB's skipper Smriti Mandhana contributed to a successful innings alongside Danni Wyatt-Hodge but later got dismissed by Ashleigh Gardner. Ellyse Perry and Raghvi Bist formed a crucial partnership, resulting in a 69/2 score after multiple dropped catches. Ellyse made her fifth WPL fifty off 27 balls, putting on 86 runs for the third wicket along with Raghvi. Sayali Satghare took Perry's wicket, putting RCB back at 113/4.
Richa Ghosh took matters into her own hands, securing the match with 63 off the last five overs, with Kanika Ahuja joining her smashing 30 off 13. The partnership reached 93 off just 37 balls with nine balls remaining.
