'On her day, Richa can do absolute magic' - RCB's finisher almost pulls off a miracle

"Sir, 15 kam tha."

That was Richa Ghosh after she hit a scarcely believable 50-ball 90 to help Royal Challengers Bengaluru get within 15 runs of an improbable win over Mumbai Indians on Monday night.

Ghosh had come in to bat in the fifth over of RCB's 200 chase with the scorecard reading 31 for 4. That soon became 35 for 5, at which point their chase wasn't the only concern.

There were overs to survive, damage to limit, and net run-rate to safeguard in order to keep RCB atop the WPL points table, just in case luck conspired against them in the race to the playoffs. Like if Delhi Capitals won both their remaining games (and RCB lost to UP Warriorz) to force a tie on 10 points.

But for Ghosh, the hurt of the 15 missed runs were far greater than the satisfaction of playing a breathtaking knock.

"That's the mindset Richa has," RCB head coach Malolan Rangarajan said. "Given the position we were in, when Nadine [de Klerk] and Richa put that [sixth-wicket] partnership [of 42 off 36] together, at the first time-out they told themselves - and this is interesting in terms of how players think - that they'd be comfortable even chasing 15 an over across the final five overs.

"And when we went back in at the next time-out, with Richa stranded alongside Aru [Arundhati Reddy], we tried to set a different kind of target, not 200, but something we felt could help her get there. What we realised on this sort of pitch was that if you aim for a different target, you might end up somewhere else.

"So we gave Richa something to look forward to in the next four overs and spoke about keeping the option of chasing 25 in the final over, where anything could happen. That was exactly the conversation. If she was still there in the last over and had to hit four sixes, it was about giving herself the best possible chance."

Needing 59 off 12 may have seemed academic, but when Ghosh hit Amanjot Kaur for three back-to-back sixes, hopes - however improbable - flickered. Ghosh's strong bottom-hand was out in its full glory - shovelling yorker-length deliveries and full tosses down the ground. By the time Shreyanka Patil ended the over with back-to-back fours, it had cost 27, leaving RCB needing 32 off six balls.

Could RCB have promoted Shreyanka instead of sending her in at No. 10? Possibly. But Rangarajan explained that, given the position they were in, the aim was to give themselves the best chance of narrowing the gap without compounding the damage to their net run-rate.

"We were realistic about what we should be looking to achieve and at what point we could try to put pressure back on them," he said. "When you've lost wickets and have about 100 to chase in the last six overs, we didn't want to be in a situation where we go for it prematurely and end up with a 30-40 run loss.

"So what gives us the opportunity to still get those 95 runs in six overs - and mind you, we were still looking at those 95 runs - but what's the best way to get there with the resources we have?

"The paramount thing was: can we look to chase 25 in the last over? You take 25 out of 95, you're talking about 70 in five overs. What can Aru look to do? She started teeing off. With Sayali [Satghare], with 17-18 balls left, what can she do?

"We know the impact Shreyanka can create - it's a fair question [whether it was the right call to have her bat at 10]. If she has more balls, can she score a lot more? That's something we will definitely consider. The thinking at the time was whether we could get a batter who could get Richa on strike.

"When Radha [Yadav] was sent up the order [earlier in the tournament], there weren't too many takers. Sayali also plays well, does well for Mumbai [in domestic cricket]. We have a lot of faith in her and the areas she can hit. After that, it becomes easy for us to know when to send Shreyanka."

After beginning the final over by bludgeoning Amelia Kerr to the long-off fence for four - bringing the equation down to 28 off five - Ghosh was beaten attempting to loft inside-out over cover. The next two balls were clobbered for two sixes, before Kerr sealed Mumbai's win off the final delivery. As she walked off, Ghosh had hit an incredible 10 fours and six sixes.

"To get us to 15 shy of the target was a herculean effort," Rangarajan said. "On her day, she can do absolute magic and can sometimes massacre any sort of bowling. As we've always been speaking about at RCB, we want to put pressure back on the opposition.

"It was nice to see when they had to defend about 52 [59] in the last two overs, they felt the pressure. That tells us enough about Richa the player. To score four sixes back-to-back is good for her confidence also. She's had good, impactful innings, scoring 90 odd was very important for her, so I'm very happy for her."