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The Gujarat Giants (GG) defeated the Delhi Capitals (DC) by 11 runs on Thursday in Match 14 of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.
Opener Laura Wolvaardt (57 off 45) and all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner (51* off 33) scored half-centuries to power GG to post a total of 147/4 on the board. On the other hand, Giants’ bowlers and fielders made a collective effort to restrict the Capitals to 136 and help GG win the match by 11 runs.
For GG, Kim Garth (2/18), Gardner (2/19) and Tanuja Kanwar (2/29) took two wickets each, while Sneh Rana (1/27) and Harleen Deol (1/27) took one wicket each.
With this win, the GG still remain in the race for the playoffs and have jumped one place to reach No.4 on the points table with two wins from six games.
Defending a target of 148, GG pacer Garth almost dismissed DC skipper Meg Lanning on the first ball of the innings. Lanning was struck on the pads while playing a flick shot. GG went for the review but the replays showed it was an umpire’s call with the ball clipping the leg stump.
DC opener Shafali Verma then got going by hitting a six off left-arm spinner Kanwar over wide long on. However, the left-arm spinner had the last laugh as she bounced back to clean up Shafali on 8 off 7 three balls later.
Coming to bat at No.3, Alice Capsey and Lanning then took the counter-attacking route and smashed four 4s and two maximums to take the score to 48 from 5.1 overs. However, GG captain Sneh Rana provided an important breakthrough to her side as she removed Lanning by trapping her LBW on 18 off 15.
DC was in deep trouble as just three balls later, a mix-up between Capsey and middle-order batter Jemimah Rodrigues saw Capsey (22 off 11) being run out as DC reached 51/3 at the end of the powerplay.
Rana then brought back Garth again into the attack and it worked wonders for the Giants as she dismissed Rodrigues caught behind for 1 off 4.
In the 9th over off Mansi Joshi, Marizanne Kapp then tried to release some pressure as she smashed a couple of fours which also included five wides as DC accumulated 16 off the over. At the half-way stage, DC were 78/4 in 10 overs.
Just when it looked like DC was getting back on track with a partnership developing between Kapp and Jonassen, Deol dismissed Jonassen on 4 off 10 caught at long off on the last ball of the 11th over.
The asking rate kept climbing as DC collected just 4 runs off 12 balls with a quite couple of overs. In the 13th over, Kapp again provided some relief to the DC camp as she hit Deol for a four and a six.
However, DC continued to lose wickets at regular intervals as Gardner cleaned up Taniya Bhatia (1) while the dangerous-looking Kapp was run-out on 36 off 29 with the help of a brilliant direct hit at the striker-end by Ashwani Kumari.
In the 15th over, Kanwar then dismissed Radha Yadav (1 off 3) caught behind with the help of a sharp catch by wicket-keeper Sushma Verma. It then seemed like an inevitable victory for GG as DC were 100/8 in 14.3 overs.
For the DC, the equation was 48 runs required off 33 balls with just two wickets in hand. Arundhati Reddy then brought the Capitals back in the game as she smashed four 4s to bring the equation down to 13 off 13.
However, just when it seemed that DC is going to win another game, Reddy mistimed a ball while going for an inside out and was caught at cover on 25 off 17 off Garth on the last ball of her spell.
Gardner then removed Poonam Yadav for a duck caught at mid-wicket to help the Giants bowl out the Capitals at 136 in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, winning the toss and electing to bowl first, DC made one change as Poonam Yadav replaced Tara Norris to play her first game of the WPL. On the other hand, GG made two changes as Laura Wolvaardt and Ashwani Kumari came in for Sabbhineni Meghana and Annabel Sutherland.
Giants had another poor start as opener Sophia Dunkley (4) was caught at mid-on off all-rounder Kapp while trying to go over the top in the first over of the match. Continuing her good form this season, Deol then scored the first boundary of the innings by smashing one through covers on the second last ball of the second over off left-arm spinner Radha Yadav.
The DC bowlers bowled tight overs and didn’t give much chance to the Giant’s batters. They were disciplined in their line and lengths and the pacers got a hint of movement. GG scored 32/1 at the end of the powerplay as DC conceded just four 4s in the first six overs.
As the pressure of run-scoring kept building on the Giants’ batters, Jonassen took a crucial wicket of Deol by getting her caught behind on 31 off 33. The on-field umpire gave it not out and DC went for the review with wicket-keeper Bhatia looking quite confident. The Ultraedge showed a spike as the ball went past the bat as GG saw themselves at 54/2 at the halfway mark.
Gardner then provided some relief as she hit a couple of fours off consecutive deliveries from Shikha Pandey to make it the first 10-run over of the innings. GG got the momentum going as they collected three more boundaries off the next two overs to reach 94/2 in 15 overs.
Wolvaardt then targeted Jonassen and attacked her by hitting the first six of the innings followed by two fours to collect 15 runs from the 16th over. Wolvaardt played beautifully and brought up her fifty off 41 balls.
Meanwhile, Gardner was in no mood to stop as she kept batting in an aggressive manner and smashed consecutive fours off Reddy. However, the bowler bounced back by cleaning up Wolvaardt a ball later. Wolvaardt played a brilliant knock by scoring 57 off 45 balls, hitting six fours and one maximum.
Gardner and Wolvaardt stitched a crucial 81-run partnership off 53 balls for the third wicket to take the Giants from 53/2 in 9.5 overs to 134/3 in 18.4 overs.
Gardner brought up her fifty off just 32 balls and took the attack to Jonassen in the last over. She smashed a couple of fours in the last over before Jonassen took the wicket of Dayalan Hemalatha (1) off the last ball of the innings.
GG scored 147/4 from their allotted 20 overs. Gardner remained unbeaten on 51 off 33 balls, hitting nine fours at a strike rate of 154.54. In the last eight overs, GG scored 83 for the loss of 2 wickets courtesy to a match-winning partnership between Gardner and Wolvaardt.
Ashleigh Gardner was named the Player of the Match for her brilliant all-round performance, scoring 51 not out off 33 balls and picking 2/19 from 3.4 overs.
Brief Scores: Gujarat Giants 147/4 in 20 overs (Laura Wolvaardt 57, Ashleigh Gardner 51*; Jess Jonassen 2/38, Marizanne Kapp 1/24) beat Delhi Capitals 136/10 in 18.4 overs (Marizanne Kapp 36, Arundhati Reddy 25; Kim Garth 2/18, Ashleigh Gardner 2/19) by 11 runs.
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