Gujarat Giants eyes its first win of the season against UP Warriorz – which returned to winning ways in its last match – when both teams meet in their Women’s Premier League (WPL) clash on Friday, here at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
The Warriorz has had a roller coaster ride this season. After coming agonisingly close to beating Royal Challengers Bangalore in the opener, it fell just by two runs. Marizanne Kapp and Radha Yadav then ran riot in the Warriorz batting line-up before Shafali Verma took Delhi Capitals to a nine-wicket win.
But the team then bounced back to decimate the defending champion Mumbai Indians by seven wickets, chasing down 162 with 21 balls to spare.
The most significant positive for it would be its batters returning to form. Kiran Navgire’s hard-hitting was on full display against Mumbai. She struck boundaries at will, reaching her half-century at a strike rate of over 200.
Alyssa Healy and Grace Harris both found runs with the bat. While Healy played second fiddle to Navgire, Harris took over and finished the game with an impressive 38 off 17.
Although Deepti Sharma has been expensive with the ball, conceding 87 runs in 10 overs while picking two wickets, her 27 off 20 against Mumbai in a winning cause would boost her confidence.
The experienced Tahlia McGrath has had a disappointing start to the WPL 2024 season. Her bowling economy lies around 11 runs per over while picking a solitary wicket. In batting, she has managed 40 runs in three innings with a strike rate of 100.
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The Warriorz, however, might have an injury concern in opener Vrinda Dinesh, who landed on her right shoulder while attempting to stop the ball near the boundary during Mumbai’s 14th over.
“She is being scanned in the hospital while we wait for an update,” said Navgire during the post-match press conference.
On the other hand, getting over their two crushing losses would not be a cakewalk for the Giants. The Beth Mooney-led side lost to Mumbai Indians by five wickets before getting an eight-wicket thrashing from Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The team has yet to find stability and will look at its overseas player to fire sooner rather than later.
Tanuja Kanwar and Dayalan Hemalatha have had small cameos but the side will expect significant contributions from experienced all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner and skipper Mooney.
The big buy Phoebe Litchfield has yet to find her footing as performance pressure looks to have taken the better of her so far.
Harleen Deol – played over five overs against RCB and scored 22 runs at a strike rate of 70.97 – and Veda Krishnamurthy have both struggled up top. The Giants’ batters contributed 67 dot deliveries, the most by any team in WPL history, managing 107 in 20 overs against RCB.
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