Only a day after Royal Challengers Bangalore pushed them down to the last position in the 2023 Women's Premier League (WPL) standings, Gujarat Giants managed to drag themselves out of the mire with an 11-run triumph over Delhi Capitals. Sneh Rana’s bowlers deserve credit for bowling out Delhi’s formidable bowling unit for 136 runs, after her batters posted 147/4.
After being asked to bat first by Meg Lanning, the Giants did not have the best of starts as for the second consecutive time, English opener Sophia Dunkley was dismissed for a single-digit score. The next phase of the match saw Gujarat playing an innocuous brand of cricket – one that neither yielded significant runs, nor resulted in a procession of wickets.
The first nine overs produced 50 runs, although the second-wicket stand between Laura Wolvaardt and Harleen Deol was finally broken when the latter lost her wicket to Jess Jonassen in the sixth over, after scoring an anodyne 33-ball 31.
Yet again, Delhi could not capitalise on the breakthrough as the new batter, Australia’s Ashleigh Gardner, managed to get her eye in sooner than many would have expected. Whilst Wolvaardt stuck to her role of holding the fort, Gujarat eventually got the much-needed acceleration through Gardner.
An 11-run over by Marizanne Kapp, followed by Jonassen’s 15-run third over, swung the balance of the game in the Giants’ favour. With Wolvaardt also recording her half-century in the 17th over, Sneh Rana’s team looked in contention to breach the 150-run mark.
Perhaps, they would have done it quite comfortably had both batters been at the crease till the last delivery, but such an occurrence was prevented by Arundhati Reddy, who dismissed the South African in the penultimate over. Dayalan Hemalatha could score only a solitary run in the three deliveries she faced, as Gujarat posted a total of 147/4.
Breakthroughs at Crucial Intervals Hurt Delhi Capitals
The Capitals’ start with the bat had elements of similarity with the Giants’, as their swashbuckling prodigy, Shafali Verma recorded his second single-digit score on the bounce. Unlike the Deol-Wolvaardt duo, however, Alice Capsey and Meg Lanning did not show any great affinity for the risk-free batting approach.
The first five overs produced 44 runs, before the sixth over turned the game on its head. In a thrilling battle of captains, Rana had the last laugh as she trapped Lanning leg before wicket, before a lack of coordination with Jemimah Rodrigues resulted in Capsey getting run out.
To make matters worse, Jemimah could not redeem herself as she too followed the Australian to the dugout, departing in the very next over. Delhi desperately needed stability, which they received from a 29-run fifth-wicket stand between Marizanne Kapp and Jess Jonassen.
Kapp did most of the scoring, as Jonassen’s four-run knock concluded in the 11th over off Deol’s bowling. Wicketkeeper-batter, Taniya Bhatia could not contribute more than a run to her team’s cause, but the game-defining moment happened a couple of deliveries later. In an attempt to steal a quick single, Kapp ended up losing her wicket to an exceptionally precise direct hit from Ashwani Kumari.
Like Taniya, Radha Yadav could score only a single run, although Arundhati Reddy did an incredible job in keeping Delhi in the hunt. The medium pacer scored a 17-ball 25, which included four boundaries, before eventually losing her wicket to Kim Garth in the 18th over.
Although the Capitals required 13 runs off the last couple of overs, they had run out of reliable batting options, as Gardner bagged two points for her team by dismissing the last batter, Poonam Yadav, in the fourth delivery of the last match.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)