Richa Ghosh recalls her days growing up, often training with boys, frequently shuttling between Siliguri and Kolkata, with her father doing everything in his power to get her daughter the resources to develop into an elite cricketer. “We used to do (power-hitting) challenges when I was a kid, he never stopped me from hitting fours and sixes,” she said in an RCB Podcast. “The coaches at the club focused on the basics, the drives and all, playing along the ground. But papa kehte the, tu bindaas mar.” Richa’s father Manabendra Ghosh always believed in his daughter’s competitive abilities, how she always competed with him, and desired to beat him in these challenges too. On Thursday in Visakhapatnam, those competitive impulses were shining brightly for Richa Ghosh as she smashed a stunning 77-ball 94, the highest ever score in women’s ODI history for a player batting at No 8 or lower.
When Richa walked out to bat, India were in a world of trouble against South Africa in their third match of the ICC Women’s World Cup. After a decent start, the hosts suffered another batting collapse, going from 83/1 at the end of the 17th over to 102/6 at the end of 26 overs. Ghosh, for the second match in a row, was coming in at No 8, but unlike the match against Pakistan, she had to play more than just a cameo. She ended up orchestrating two huge partnerships, first a 84-ball 51 with Amanjot Kaur to steady the ship and then the rip-roaring 53-ball 88 for the ninth wicket with the ever-competitive Sneh Rana.
Richa took six balls to get off the mark, but her first scoring shot brought the crowd alive after a massive period of lull. A lofted shot over mid-on in the 29th over, bowled by Chloe Tryon, brought an end to an 86-ball boundary drought. She followed that up with another four in the next over too. She still took the time to get her eye in and was on 11 off 21 at one stage, while Amanjot Kaur had dropped anchor at the other end. Tryon offered a release shot to Richa, floating one on her pads and she gleefully accepted with a lofted sweep for four.
Method in madness
It wasn’t mindless slogging at this point from Richa. Tumi Sekhukhune’s slower balls had already caused problems for India, but Richa read one like a book from the medium pacer to launch a slog sweep nearly into the stands. “That’s what she brings to the table,” Mithali Raj observed in commentary, as Vizag got a glimpse of the power-hitting that would unfold.
It’s in the last 10 overs that Ghosh truly got into the zone. In the 42nd over, she smashed a slog sweep off Nadine de Klerk for a flat six to move to 45 off 49 balls. That over was also the perfect example of Richa’s attacking play that put bowlers off their lengths and lines as De Klerk started to spray the ball around. The over saw her bring up a 53-ball 50 after a streaky outside edge.
Two shots in the 47th over were excellent examples of how Richa manipulated the field. When Ayabonga Khaka fired one fuller outside off stump to Ghosh kept her weight on the backfoot, leaned over to her left and whipped it with a flick of wrists over the point region for a four. It was a ball that South Africa would have hoped went straight to the fielder at deep cover. The bowler delivered according to the field in place, but Ghosh found an angle that they couldn’t cut off. Because only the previous delivery she had played a shot to the right of that very fielder for another four.
Late in the innings, with pressure overturned, Richa got a couple of reprieves from South African fielders. But she kept the foot on the pedal. Two fours in the last over raised hopes of a 100 but she was out off a high full toss.
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The impact of Richa’s knock, and the lower-order contributions could be seen in the innings progression for India. Between overs 11-20, India went at 3.6 runs per over and it dropped to 2.3 runs per over from Overs 21-30. After Richa’s arrival, the rate went up slightly to 3.9 between overs 31-40. Then came the fireworks– 98 runs in the last 10 overs, with Richa scoring 58 off 33 balls.
In the first overs of the Indian batting innings, it had been difficult to find the boundaries with only 12 fours and 2 sixes in that period. In the last 10 overs, Rana and Richa were sensational at throwing South African bowlers off their lengths consistently, smashing 13 fours and 3 sixes.
Shib Shankar Paul, who coached Richa with the Bengal side, once told this daily that the youngster was the cleanest hitter in India. Paul, a former medium-pacer, said Richa could hit sixes at will and that her great strength was natural. He recalled how, when they first met, all she wanted to do was hit big shots off every ball, and if allowed, she would have done it all day. “She will only get better with age and in the coming years, you will see a great finisher,” he had added, after Richa was picked up by RCB in the inaugural WPL auction. While the world knows her incredible power-hitting skills, the ability to construct such a crucial innings from a precarious situation would come as a big boost for India.
