Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) got their TATA WPL title-defence campaign off to a winning start with a six-wicket triumph over Gujarat Giants (GG) in a thrilling TATA WPL 2025 season opener at the BCA Stadium in Vadodara.

Richa Ghosh (64 off 27) and Kanika Ahuja (30 off 13) saw the defending champions through with an incredible unbeaten 93-run stand after Ellyse Perry set the tone with a 34-ball 57 in the chase. By chasing down a target of 201 with nine balls to spare, RCB registered the highest successful chase in WPL history and also became the first team to successfully chase down a target of 200-plus.

A swashbuckling 37-ball 79 from new Gujarat captain Ashleigh Gardner and former captain Beth Mooney’s 56 off 42 propelled GG to 201/5, the joint fourth-highest score in WPL history.

Earlier, RCB won the toss and elected to field first. Mooney and Laura Wolvaardt put on a 35-run opening stand before Renuka Singh castled Wolvaardt in the fifth over. Dayalan Hemalatha’s dismissal soon after brought new captain Gardner to the middle. But her predecessor Mooney held fort superbly, upping the ante in the 10th over with a hat-trick of boundaries off Georgia Wareham, thus also completing her fifty off 37 deliveries. GG reached 68/2 at the halfway mark.

Mooney fell soon after to debutant Prema Rawat, hitting one straight to Smriti Mandhana at mid-wicket. Gardner and Dottin then took over with a flurry of boundaries. Gardner hit a hat-trick of sixes off Rawat en route to a scintillating 25-ball 50 on her WPL captaincy. GG rocketed to 148/3 at the 16-over mark with the partnership between Gardner and Dottin reaching 63 off just 26 deliveries.

While Renuka got rid of Dottin (25 off 13), nothing could stop Gardner. The skipper smashed her way to 79 off just 37 deliveries with eight sixes as GG scored 53 runs off the last four overs to finish at 201/5.

Captain Mandhana hit consecutive boundaries to start the RCB innings, but Gardner made an impact with the ball as well. She struck twice in the second over, trapping Mandhana in front before cleaning up Danni Wyatt-Hodge.

Ellyse Perry and Raghvi Bist then put on a crucial partnership, courtesy of multiple dropped catches, and RCB were 69/2 after 8 overs. Perry, dropped on 2 and 19, made the most of her charmed life and got to her fifth WPL fifty off just 27 balls.

The duo put on 86 runs for the third wicket, before Dottin dismissed Bist and Sayali Satghare got the huge wicket of Perry to peg RCB back at 113/4 after 13 overs. Richa Ghosh, who was dropped first ball, then took matters into her own hands. With 63 needed off the last five overs, Ghosh smashed 22 runs off Gardner. Ahuja kept the pressure on from the other end, before Ghosh - who got to 50 off just 23 balls - hit Dottin for a six to win the match with nine balls to spare and the Ghosh-Ahuja partnership reached 93 off just 37 balls.

Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 202-4 in 18.3 overs (Richa Ghosh 64*, Ellyse Perry 57, Ashleigh Gardner 2-33) beat Gujarat Giants 201-5 in 20 overs (Ashleigh Gardner 79, Beth Mooney 56, Renuka Singh 2-25).
The full scorecard and match details can be found here.