On Monday, March 11, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, the Gujarat Giants and UP Warriorz Women squared off in Game 18 of the current Women Premier League (WPL 2024). The Gujarat Giants took to the bat first to start the match.
The team scored 43 and 74 runs in the first inning, thanks to outstanding hits from Laura Wolvaardt and Beth Mooney. In addition, Gujarat scored 152 runs in the first inning with the addition of 15 runs from Ashleigh Gardner.
Sophie Ecclestone took the most wickets for the UP Warriorz, finishing with three. With one wicket each from Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Chamari Athapaththu, Deepti Sharma claimed two.
UP Warriorz stumbles despite Deepti Sharma’s foolish knock.
Alyssa Healy and Kiran Navgire scored four and zero runs, respectively, in the opening inning as UP Warriorz attempted to chase down the goal. Chamari Athapaththu also left for a duck. Although Warriorz was having trouble, a strong knock from Deepti Sharma gave the team some optimism. With 60 deliveries, Deepti scored 88 runs and did remarkably well.
Nevertheless, the elite all-round player was unable to locate a reliable batting partner. Poonam Khemnar scored 36 runs in as many deliveries as Grace Harris, who left the field after scoring just one run. Shweta Sehrawat also contributed eight runs to the total.
Gujarat Giants women won the game by eight runs in the end, and UP Warriorz almost missed their goal. Shabnam MD took the most wickets for Gujarat in the second innings, claiming three of them. One wicket each was taken by Ashleigh Gardner and Kathryn Bryce. With two victories in seven games, the Giants remain in fifth place in the WPL 2024 rankings despite the victory. UP Warriorz is in fourth place with three victories in eight games.