In a thrilling Women's Premier League (WPL) match, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) secured a remarkable victory over Delhi Capitals, with skipper Smriti Mandhana lauding the exceptional performances of Kanika Ahuja and Richa Ghosh. The duo's resilient partnership was instrumental in chasing down a massive target of 202 runs, leading RCB to a six-wicket triumph.

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Mandhana expressed immense pride in her team's fighting spirit, especially highlighting the composure displayed by Ahuja and Ghosh under pressure. She noted that watching the match from the sidelines was more nerve-wracking than playing, but the duo's brilliant batting provided much-needed relief and confidence.

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"It was brilliant to watch", Mandhana was quoted saying to ESPNcricinfo. "They [Ahuja and Ghosh] have been doing that in the nets in the last seven to eight days to all our bowlers. So, really happy that things clicked on. But yeah, I think after the first innings we knew with the dew coming, it was going to be tough to bowl. So we always thought that we were in the game."

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"The way Richa batted and Pez (Perry) batted was amazing to watch," she added.

RCB without key players

RCB had lost key players like Sophie Devine (unavailable), Shreyanka Patil, Asha Sobhana and Sophie Molineux (all injured) ahead of the season, so they had to look for some alternative options.

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This resulted in three debutants: Prema Rawat, VJ Joshitha and Raghvi Bist. The inexperience in the bowling unit showed, and sloppiness in the field did not help. Mandhana backed her young players but said there remained 'a lot of things to work on' if they are to defend their title this season.

"I think we lost pretty much the top-three wicket-takers of last year," Mandhana was quoted saying to ESPNcricinfo.

"And we had to start, but luckily we had good options. And whoever came in for the injured people, I think they were all brilliant replacements," she added.

(With inputs from agencies)