GG’s Ashleigh Gardner celebrates the wicket of Nat Sciver Brunt during the WPL Match between Mumbai Indians vs Gujarat Giants held at CCI Stadium in Mumbai on Monday.
| Photo Credit: Emmanual Yogini
On Monday night, Gujarat Giants came within striking distance of beating Mumbai Indians for the first time in three seasons of the Women’s Premier League (WPL). As the two teams face off in the Eliminator at Brabourne Stadium on Thursday, another contest as riveting as the one at the start of this week will go a long way towards lighting up the business end of the third edition.
GG, of course, will be hoping for a different outcome. Harmanpreet Kaur’s MI, on the other hand, will be more than satisfied if status quo is maintained. At stake this time is a lot more than any of their six previous battles, with the winner setting up a date with Delhi Capitals in the final on Saturday.
Having qualified for the playoffs for the first time, Ashleigh Gardner’s team is in uncharted territory. But it can derive a lot of confidence from how the players have shaped up over the past fortnight. Before the defeat to MI, it won three matches in a row, and convincingly at that.
The protagonists with the bat in GG’s campaign have been Gardner, Beth Mooney and Harleen Deol. Bharti Fulmali’s blistering 61 on Monday also adds renewed heft to the lower middle-order.
With the ball, two young Indians in Kashvee Gautam and Priya Mishra have grabbed the spotlight. While Kashvee is GG’s leading wicket-taker with 10 scalps, Priya’s breakthroughs have often come at vital junctures.
For the 2023 champion, besides Harmanpreet’s runs at No. 4, it is the overseas core that has done the heavy lifting. Nat Sciver-Brunt is leading the scoring tally in the tournament with 416 runs in eight innings at a strike rate of 151.82. Leggie Amelia Kerr and off-spinner Hayley Matthews are the joint-highest wicket-takers this season with 14 victims each.
Many of these names are match-winners. But who will seize the moment in a knockout game and take their team over the line?
Published – March 12, 2025 10:50 pm IST
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