"One of the biggest match-winners in India" - Fans react after Richa Ghosh's valiant 96 in 2nd ODI vs Australia goes in vain
Fans appreciated Indian women's team wicket-keeper batter Richa Ghosh after her brilliant 96-run knock in the 2nd ODI against Australia on Saturday (December 30). Unfortunately, it went in vain as Australia edged past India by three runs at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
Australia batted first in the contest after winning the toss and notched up 258/8 in 50 overs. Phoebe Litchfield (63) and Ellyse Perry (50) hit half-centuries to star for the visitors in the batting department. Deepti Sharma (5/38) was the pick of Indian bowlers.
Richa Ghosh then anchored the chase for the hosts after coming to the crease at the fall of the first wicket in the seventh over. She built useful partnerships with Smriti Mandhana (34) and Jemimah Rodrigues (44) to steer India towards the target.
However, Richa could not complete the job as Annabel Sutherland dismissed her in the 44th over, just four runs short of a well-deserved century. Her 117-ball knock comprised 13 hits to the boundary. The chase got derailed after Richa's departure as India eventually fell short by a narrow margin.
Fans took note of Richa Ghosh's magnificent batting performance in a must-win game against a top side like Australia. They hailed her through reactions on X. Here are some of them:
"Richa played a very good innings" - Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur after narrow loss against Australia
At the post-match presentation, India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur talked about the positive takeaways from the game and expressed satisfaction with the performances of her teammates. Reflecting on the loss, Kaur said:
"I think we bowled really well today. We planned that we have to keep thinking about taking wickets and keep them to a decent total. Lot of positives from the game. I know in the end they took the game away from us but lot of positives. Proud of the way the team played. If we would have showed a bit more awareness that would have played a role. Richa played a very good innings and Jemi helped her in the middle."
She continued:
"We've seen a couple of good performances. Looking forward to the next game now. We know they have a very long batting lineup and if we could stop them to less than 300 it was a great effort. It was a decent total and we could have chased it but if we had showed more awareness in the middle-overs it would have been better."
The two teams will next face off in the third ODI at the same venue on January 2.