A degree of predictability has plagued the Women’s Premier League (WPL) across both legs of the tournament this season.
In Bengaluru, the template was to win the toss and chase, while the opposite has been the decision of choice at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.
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Expectations have come to be attached with teams and matchups. Gujarat Giants, after four losses, was expected to leave a deeper wedge at the bottom of the table, a slab it has struggled to progress from since last season.
After comfortable wins early on, sides like Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals are the teams of choice for fans dabbling in some playoffs soothsaying.
If their 19-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore is anything to go by, Giants are excited to break old patterns and, at the very least, prove to be chaos merchants in a tight finish, when they come up against Mumbai Indians on Saturday.
A victory for the Beth Mooney-led side would keep it alive in the tournament but its fate rests entirely in the hands of other teams.
Mooney and Laura Wolvaardt’s seamless start against Royal Challengers Bangalore, which set the tone for Giants’ only win thus far, will be something the side wants to replicate against MI too.
They’ll have a harder time getting going against the express pace of Shabnim Ismail and a few smart spin options Harmanpreet Kaur employs in the PowerPlay.
This would be a handy time for Phoebe Litchfield to find her mojo as Giants are missing a confident middle-order anchor who can take off once the openers depart.
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Against RCB, Giants took a few bizarre calls in terms of batting line-up when it came to piling on the runs in the last two overs. Faith on big hitters like Kathryn Bryce and a horses for courses approach in assigning talent to match situations are key.
MI is in a ‘why fix it if it ain’t broke’ phase, with a largely settled playing eleven. With Ismail, Amelia Kerr and Pooja Vastrakar all regularly among the wickets, MI will have its plans laid out for the Giants’ unsteady batting order.
While MI’s top order has fired in turns, the confident hitting of Amanjot Kaur and S. Sajana are fail-safes should things go wrong at the top.
With two games each played on two strips, all eyes will be on the third, which will again shorten the boundary drastically on one side.
After the thriller that was UP Warriorz’ one-run coup against Delhi Capitals, local crowds will hope for an encore on Saturday.
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