For Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), their "#PlayBold philosophy also means doing whatever it takes". No player has taken that more seriously than Richa Ghosh.
Having made her international debut five years ago at the age of 16, Ghosh has shown the ability to learn and adapt quickly to survive in the fast-paced format, both for India and for RCB. She offered another glimpse into that on the opening night of WPL 2025 when she hit a brutal 27-ball 64 against Gujarat Giants to take RCB to their target of 202 with nine balls to go. No bigger target has been chased down in the WPL before.
With Vadodara hosting its first WPL match, there was talk about the square boundaries being a bit skewed - 50 metres to one side, 60 metres to the other, and 69 metres down the ground on either side. But sometimes, to some players, like Ghosh on Friday, the size of the boundaries didn't matter. After her heroics, she would just say, "I knew I could clear [the boundaries] so I was just reacting as the ball came." She hit four sixes, including the winning hit, to go with seven fours.
But there was fierce intelligence at work too - Ghosh problem-solved as she went along, and constantly exploited signs of weakness in the opposition.
When Ghosh had walked out, RCB needed 93 off 46 balls with six wickets in hand. After early hiccups in the chase, Ellyse Perry had lifted RCB with a 34-ball 57, but it was left to Ghosh and Kanika Ahuja, returning to RCB after missing a season owing to injury, to take the team home. After them, it was just the bowlers.
Ghosh took 12 deliveries to score 15 runs - she also got a life first ball when Simran Shaikh fumbled a chance - and the required run-rate was well over 12 at that stage. She was just waiting. Like a musician changing the key, the tempo, the mood, or the character of the piece, Ghosh switched gears in the 16th over, bowled by Ash Gardner, Giants' star of the night who deserved to be on the winning side after slamming 79 not out off 37 balls and sending back Smriti Mandhana and Danni Wyatt-Hodge earlier.
Before the start of the over, it was 63 needed off 30. After six balls, it was 40 from 24.
Ghosh showcased skill, both power and deft touches, beauty and brawn, all in one exciting package. She took on one of the best T20 bowlers in women's cricket, who until then had 2-0-10-2 in the contest. Dew was playing its part too.
Gardner missed an off-stump yorker off the first ball and that was enough for Ghosh to use her wrists and find the gap in the cover region. A wide, and then the next ball was also in Ghosh's arc and she swung through the line to launch it over long-on. The next three balls were nonchalantly hit to the boundary - two fours were guided past short third with gentle dabs and another was a pull to deep midwicket. That their fielding was sloppy didn't help Giants.
As per ESPNcricinfo's forecaster, RCB's win probability at the end of the 15th over was 12.66%. It climbed to 72.91% after the 16th over, as Gardner conceded 23 runs. It was a gripping and thrilling few minutes of the night that will probably be remembered as the best piece in Ghosh's composition.
She had moved to 37 off 18 and eventually brought up her fifty off 23 balls.
A 16-run 17th over meant it had suddenly become RCB's game to lose. Ghosh's bat swing generated enough power to land a few more big blows, including the winning six over deep midwicket in the penultimate over.
RCB had broken the record for the biggest chase. Ghosh, 21, embraced Ahuja, 22, after the match-altering stand of 93 - Ahuja had hit 30 not out off 13.
Mandhana, watching from the dugout in the final moments, had her hand over her mouth and shouted "shottttttttt!" when the job was done. The RCB players and coaching staff stood up to applaud the two as they returned.
Ghosh turned the let-off on zero into gold. It was a "playbold" love letter from her to RCB on Valentine's Day.