Vadodara: Leg-spinner Priya Mishra bowled a game-changing spell of 3-25 while captain Ashleigh Gardner smashed a brilliant 52 off 32 balls as Gujarat Giants opened their account in WPL 2025 with a six-wicket win over UP Warriorz at the Kotambi Stadium on Sunday.
Electing to bowl first, Gujarat had a superb bowling performance on a fresh pitch, as Priya, playing just her second WPL game, shined brightly to dismiss Tahlia McGrath, Grace Harris, and Deepti Sharma in a match-defining middle overs spell, as UPW were restricted to 143/9.
With Alana King and Saima Thakor taking 26 runs off the last two overs, it meant UPW crossed the 140-mark, which was unlikely at one point. In the chase, GG were reduced to 57/3 in 8.3 overs. But Ashleigh led the way for GG by hitting a fantastic fifty laced with five fours and three sixes.
After she fell, Deandra Dottin hit a stellar cameo of 18-ball 33 not out, laced with three fours and two sixes. She found good support from Harleen Deol, who hit an unbeaten 34 off 30 balls, including hitting four boundaries, as GG got their first win while chasing in the WPL.
Chasing 144, GG didn’t have a great start to the chase as Beth Mooney holed out to mid-on for a golden duck on a full toss from Grace Harris. In the next over, GG had another blow as Dayalan Hemalatha played on off top-ranked T20I bowler Sophie Ecclestone.
Ashleigh got going by dispatching Kranti Goud for back-to-back boundaries, before Laura Wolvaardt stepped down the pitch to hit Sophie for a boundary. Ashleigh flicked and slammed Saima Thakor for two sixes, before Laura hit her for the third maximum of the over as 20 runs came off the fifth over.
The 55-run stand for the third wicket came to an end when Sophie cramped Laura for room and pace, as the batter was castled through the gate. But Ashleigh marched forward to smash full tosses for boundaries, including one clubbed over deep square leg for six to get her fifty.
But against the run of play, Ashleigh pulled straight to short fine leg and fell to Tahlia McGrath. From there, Deandra and Harleen showed good strokeplay on front foot and back foot to hit eight boundaries collectively and finish off the chase with two overs to spare.
Earlier, UPW had a good start to their innings, thanks to Kiran Navgire hitting three boundaries in the first two overs. But the Giants bounced back as Deandra got a quicker ball to move in and trap Kiran lbw, and was followed by Ashleigh castling Vrinda Dinesh cheaply.
Deepti Sharma, on her WPL captaincy debut, was great in using her sweeps, heave and punch for boundaries, while Uma Chetry was proficient in finding fours via slog-sweep, slam down the ground and sweeping in the gap between mid-wicket and long-on. But Deandra came back in the 10th over and had Uma pull a short ball to mid-on to end a 51-run stand for the third wicket.
From there, it was Priya’s show all the way as she trapped Tahlia lbw with a googly for duck, followed by castling Grace with the same wrong’un. She then signed off from the middle overs by bowling a slower delivery outside off-stump which Deepti looked to slog, but it came off the toe-end and was caught by a diving Ashleigh at mid-off.
After Ashleigh and Kashvee Gautam castled Shweta Sehrawat and Sophie respectively, Alana showed off her batting skills by heaving and cutting Deandra for six and four respectively. In the final over, Saima took over by edging, reverse-sweeping and slamming for her three fours off Ashleigh, with the last one coming after the ball burst through Laura’s hands at long-on.
Though Saima was run out on the last ball, she and Alana ensured the Warriorz posted a respectable total on board. Though the duo took 26 runs off the last two overs, it wasn’t enough for a lacklustre UPW to get a win as their sloppy show in all aspects let them down.
Brief Scores: UP Warriorz 143/9 (Deepti Sharma 39, Uma Chetry 24; Priya Mishra 3-25, Deandra Dottin 2-34) lost to Gujarat Giants 144/4 in 18 overs (Ashleigh Gardner 52, Harleen Deol 34 not out; Sophie Ecclestone 2-16, Grace Harris 1-1) by six wickets.
(IANS)
