A four-and-a-half-year-old from Siliguri used to get quite excited on coming across bats and balls at the Baghajatin Athletic Club there, frequenting the place with her father, who had realised her interest in cricket. That kid has grown up to be India Women’s death-overs specialist with the bat.

Make no mistake, without keeper-batter Richa Ghosh’s meaty blows in the slog overs, the World Cup crown could well have remained elusive for the Harmanpreet Kaur-led team. An aggregate of 235 runs, averaging 39.16 at a strike rate of 133.52, underpin the significant role the 22-year-old played in the lower-middle order for India in this World Cup.

Importantly, Richa’s big hits took the pressure off centurion Jemimah Rodrigues in the semi-final against Australia and gave India those extra 30 runs at a critical juncture of the final against South Africa.

The DY Patil Stadium pitch for the final was a little sticky and on the slower side,
and not as flat as the one used for the semi-final. That makes Richa’s 24-ball 34 even more important.

What guides Richa is her aggressive mindset, come what may, with six-hitting a vital part of her muscle memory. Besides, the increasing options in strokeplay have also sharpened Richa’s batting. The shots on the off-side, especially those over cover and point, have been a feature of her game.

“I’ve worked on increasing my options in strokeplay so that wherever they (opposition bowlers) bowl, I can hit, over cover or point... Or if it’s on the leg side, I can put that away as well. I want to be a batter who makes the bowler think, ‘Where do I bowl to her?’ That helps me in terms of finding the gaps and score runs,” Richa, who idolises Mahendra Singh Dhoni, told The Telegraph amid celebrations following India’s victory late on Sunday night.

She also trains accordingly when it comes to batting on sluggish pitches, which aided her in the final. “I knew which shots were on for me, and I also know my options on a sticky wicket.

“While practising too, I try and zero in on the kind of shots I can play on such wickets and which strokes are on. That certainly helped.

“Also, on sticky wickets, the reverse-sweep helps at times, and I was able to execute that too,” Richa said.

Irrespective of the pitch and the situation, or even if it’s the first ball she’s facing, Richa won’t be taking any half-measures if it’s pitched in her arc. “Since childhood, I have always felt I don’t need 10 balls to get set,” she said.

“If the first ball is in the slot for me, I will go after it. If not, I will respect it and go after the next. This mindset has helped me to be a better batter and stroke-maker, and that is how I want to keep playing.”

As for power-hitting, Richa said: “It’s about normal range hitting.

“Open-net batting is what I like as it helps me in finding the gaps and play
better shots.”

In the team huddle after Sunday’s triumph, Jemimah had talked about the Cup success changing their lives forever. How much of a change will it bring about in Richa’s life?

“Winning the World Cup is a big thing, yes. But I don’t think my nature and behaviour will change, or I will change as a person. Now, when I’ll see myself as a World Cup winner, that feeling will be a little different,” said Richa, for whom the Cricket Association of Bengal is mulling a felicitation in the days to come.