Player Of The Match
51* (33) & 2/19
Delhi Capitals fall short by 11 runs despite a late partnership from Arundhati Reddy and Shikha Pandey
Ashleigh Gardner struck her maiden WPL fifty • BCCI
Gujarat Giants 147 for 4 (Wolvaardt 57, Gardner 51*) beat Delhi Capitals 136 (Kapp 36, Garth 2-18, Gardner 2-19) by 11 runs
Gujarat Giants have been crawling in their batting attempts in their last three games, including their score of 147 for 4 batting first against Delhi Capitals on Thursday. Against a team that boasts of the best powerplay scoring rate so far in the WPL – of 9.38 – Giants barely had a chance when Capitals raced away to 51 for 3 in the powerplay.
Capitals bat deep and a middling sub-150 shouldn’t have bothered them. And against a side that has been struggling to contain their oppositions right from the first match, the odds were heavily in Capitals’ favour.
But on a pitch that has started showing signs of tiring down in the second half of the league, the Giants bowlers combined to put up a show that helped them return to winning ways with a tense 11-run victory to lift themselves off the bottom of the table to reach four points from six games, but with a worrying net run rate of -2.638.
Uncapped left-arm spinner Tanuja Kanwar bowled Shafali Verma with mind games, Sneh Rana trapped her counterpart Meg Lanning with a flat delivery, their regular wicket-taker Kim Garth delivered both with the new ball and in the tense chase, Ashleigh Gardner chipped in with two timely wickets in a frugal bowling display, and two crucial run-outs meant that a late attempt from Arundhati Reddy and Shikha Pandey for a quick stand of 35 from 21 balls was also not enough.
Giants’ batting effort was earlier led by Laura Wolvaardt and Gardner who propelled them from the halfway mark when Giants were going at under six an over. Wolvaardt played the anchor with her 57 whereas Gardner unleashed her range of scoops, lofted strokes, drives and quick footwork in an unbeaten 51 off 33 to give Giants a respectable total on a pitch that wasn’t as batting friendly as it looked 10 days ago.
More to follow…
Vishal Dikshit is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
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