By Gujarat Giants defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore to register their first win of the season in Match 6 of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) on Wednesday at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai.
Sophia Dunkley and Harleen Deol starred with the bat, while Ashleigh Gardner was the stand-out performer with the ball for GG as the Giants registered their first points on the table.
Dunkley laid a solid foundation for Gujarat with her attacking 65 off 28 balls, hitting eleven fours and three sixes at a strike rate of 232.14. On the other hand, Deol continued her good form from the previous game and scored a brilliant 67 off 45 balls, which included nine fours and a six to help GG post 201/7.
With the ball, all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner picked 3/31 from her four overs to help restrict RCB to 190/6 as GG finally opened their account with their first win of the season.
Chasing a huge target of 202, RCB skipper Smriti Mandhana and Sophie Devine provided a quick-fire start as RCB completed their 50 runs without any loss in just 4.3 overs.
In the second over, Mandhana got the momentum with a couple of fours off left-arm spinner Tanuja Kanwar. Devine then smashed three fours in the next over off Kim Garth. Devine didn’t stop there as she then smashed three consecutive fours off pacer Annabel Sutherland.
However, Gardner then removed Mandhana (18) caught at mid-off to break the 54-run opening partnership as RCB completed the powerplay at a score of 59/1.
After the powerplay, the Giants brought the momentum back in their side as they conceded just 29 runs off the next five overs. All-rounder Ellyse Perry started off aggressively with a couple of back-to-back fours off Mansi Joshi.
But Joshi had the last laugh as she dismissed Perry (32) a ball later. At the other end, Devine continued to hit boundaries at regular intervals as she brought up her half-century off 36 balls.
RCB wicket-keeper batter Richa Ghosh started her innings with a couple of edged fours, off GG skipper and off-spinner Sneh Rana. With 77 needed off the last 5 overs, Rana made a smart move by bringing Gardner back into the attack, who didn’t disappoint her captain as she cleaned up Ghosh for 10.
In the last few overs, Heather Knight kept the hope alive for RCB as she smashed consecutive fours off Gardner. In the next over, Devine first smashed a slower one over deep mid-wicket for a six but ended up getting caught at long-on on 66 off 45 balls on the very next ball.
After her dismissal, Knight kept fighting and smashed three fours to collect 23 runs off the 17th over from Sutherland.
With 44 needed off 18 balls, Kanika Ahuja scored a couple of fours off Rana as RCB scored 11 runs from the 18th over. In the 19th over, Gardner came back for her last over and immediately struck as she removed Ahuja stumped on 10. Knight then hit a huge six over deep mid-wicket to make 9 runs off the over.
In the last over, the equation came down to 24 runs needed off 6 balls, which was not going to be easy for the RCB. The positive thing for the Giants was that Knight was at the non-striker’s end.
On the first ball off the final over, Sutherland dismissed Poonam Khemnar caught at short fine leg. Sutherland then gave just two singles off the next two balls as the equation came down to 22 needed off 3, which meant RCB was out of the game.
Surprisingly, Shreyanka Patil smashed a six and a four and impressed everyone with her excellent batting skills. Sutherland looked a bit tense but finished the game with a dot ball as GG won the game by 11 runs. Knight remained unbeaten on 30 off 11 balls, hitting five fours and a six.
Earlier, winning the toss and electing to bat first, the Gujarat Giants went unchanged from the last game, while Royal Challengers Bangalore made one change as Poonam Khemnar came in for Disha Kasat.
Fast bowler Megan Schutt started off well for the RCB with a maiden in the first over of the match. She missed Meghana’s outside edge in the over and was making the ball swing. GG started off slowly with eight dot balls off the first eight balls.
Dunkley then opened the account for GG as she scooped one over fine-leg off Perry. RCB was close to getting their first wicket in the same over as wicket-keeper Ghosh dropped a tough chance of Meghana, who got an outside edge to a ball from Perry.
In the third over, Dunkley and Meghana then tried to shift gears with three fours off Schutt, but the Australian pacer had the last laugh as she bounced back removing Meghana (8) caught behind.
After her dismissal, there was no effect on Dunkley as she started to put pressure back on the bowlers by counterattacking. She was looking well-balanced at the crease and hit two fours and a six off Renuka Singh, followed by hitting 4, 6, 4, 4, 4 off Preeti Bose to bring up her fifty off just 18 balls, which is the fastest fifty of the WPL so far. At the end of the powerplay, GG were running away with 64/1.
Dunkley kept attacking as she hit a six and a four off Shreyanka Patil in the 8th over. However, the 20-year-old spinner bounced back as she removed Dunkley caught at long off for 65 off 28 deliveries.
Coming from a good 46 in the previous game against the UP Warriorz, Deol then took the charge and kept the scoreboard ticking with well-timed boundaries. Deol along with Gardner added 53 off 36 balls for the third wicket.
Knight then broke the partnership by dismissing Gardner stumped in the 14th over. Dayalan Hemalatha then pressed on the accelerator, hitting 16 from 6. However, Knight again bounced back to remove her caught at short third man.
Deol then smashed a pull off Perry just wide of fine-leg as she brought up her fifty in style off just 35 balls. She then followed it up with two more boundaries and was lucky enough to get dropped at the deep square leg. Sutherland then finished the over with a six to collect 20 runs from Perry’s over.
However, Gujarat Giants then conceded just 20 runs off the last three overs and picked three wickets to pull things back at the death. Deol played a brilliant knock of 67 off 45 balls before getting cleaned up by Patil in the last over as GG finished their innings at 201/7 in 20 overs.
Sophia Dunkley was named the Player of the Match for smashing 65 off 28 balls.
Brief Scores: Gujarat Giants 201/7 in 20 overs (Harleen Deol 67, Sophia Dunkley 65; Shreyanka Patil 2/32) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 190/6 in 20 overs (Sophie Devine 66, Ellyse Perry 32; Ashleigh Gardner 3/31) by 11 runs.
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