Despite making 201, the Gujarat Giants had a heart-breaking six-wicket loss in their season-opener in WPL to defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). But they brushed that heartbreak aside to open their account with a six-wicket win over a lacklustre UP Warriorz.
Ashleigh Gardner, GG’s captain who also became the Player of the Match, put the win down to the side playing the brand of cricket they are aspiring to put out this season. “Very pleased. Weren’t that far off the other game. To come out and play the brand of cricket we spoke of, feels special. There’s always things to improve on. Our bowlers did a fantastic job,” she said at the post-game ceremony.
She also praised young leg-spinner Priya Mishra for her game-changing spell of 3-25. “Priya Mishra, to pick up three wickets at this stage, makes captaincy easy. I feel like I probably missed a little bit in these two games. I also bowled a bit quick, so it runs away on these fields.”
Ashleigh also talked about everyone having their style of batting helping them score big runs. “Everyone’s got their own method to batting. Dottin clears her front leg and whacks big sixes. Harleen is methodical and waits for the ball to come to her. I am in between. Mooney and Wolvaardt set the platform for me to come in.”
Deandra, who hit an 18-ball 33 not out and took 2-32 with the ball, talked about her plan to dismiss a rampaging Kiran Navgire and how she was looking to finish the chase in style. “(On Navgire’s wicket) I remembered the final of the Women’s T20 Challenge and how I bowled at her. I came here and executed.”
“Felt they were 20-30 runs short, so we were confident to chase the 140-odd they gave us. To be honest, I was looking to finish it. It was a matter of watching the ball and hitting it hard. I was actually a missing piece for the WPL as a whole.”
“Always good to be part of the women’s IPL and do the job for GG. This year I am trying to be more consistent and perform. I don’t think we were nervy. Our captain Ash was in form. They assessing the pitch early and we were not under pressure. It was a matter of putting pressure on the UP Warriorz.”
Deepti Sharma’s first WPL game as UPW captain ended in a tame defeat and she felt the batters have to step up to overcome this loss to GG in coming matches. “The way the track played, as a batting unit, we should have stepped up more. In the middle if we could have add a short partnership, we could have got to 170-180.”
“We have the bowling strength, and as a bowling unit we have done well. There was dew, and the way the track played, the bowlers did well. As a batting unit as well as some balls we could not execute as per our field. If we can execute that, it will be good.”
