Gujarat Giants beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by six wickets in the ongoing Women’s Premier League (WPL). After the captain, captain Ashleigh Gardner credited the bowling unit for restricting RCB to 125 runs in the first innings.
Gujarat Giants defeated Royal Challengers Bengaluru by six wickets at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Bengaluru. The Smriti Mandhana-led side won back-to-back games against Gujarat and Delhi Capitals to start their campaign in Vadodara but since they started playing at home, the team has lost three games on the trot. They hosted bottom-of-the-table Gujarat on February 27 with the hope of winning it but a flop batting performance cost them the match.
Batting first, the team could post only 125 runs on the board. The top order couldn’t perform as they were reduced to 25/3 at one stage. The pressure fell on the middle order batters and they struggled to get going but kept the ship afloat. Kanika Ahuja played an important knock of 33 runs but that wasn’t enough. Tanuja Kanwar and Deandra Dottin picked up two wickets each as Gujarat bowlers had a stunning day on the field.
Gardner stole the show with the bat in the second innings. She smacked 58 runs off 31 balls, while youngster Phoebe Litchfield made an unbeaten 30 off 21. Courtesy of their partnership, Gujarat picked up a comfortable victory to keep themselves alive in the competition. Meanwhile, after the game, captain Gardner gave credit to the bowlers for the win. She noted that the team should have won the first game against RCB as well, when they couldn’t defend over 200 runs but was happy with the performance in Bengaluru.
“Definitely, in the last couple of game we haven’t batted the way we wanted to but credit goes to the bowlers today. Our bowlers stepped up, chasing a low total gave us the freedom. The first game probably we should have won, we couldn’t defend 200 but today’s win was pleasing. It was nice to win the game and take the positivity forward,” Gardner said in the post-match presentation.
“I guess we have to get better at the powerplay, tonight we lost only one wicket. When we have wickets in hand, it can prove to be pivotal. In the last two games, we lost four wickets in the powerplay and that pushed us on the back foot. We will try being consistent and put more points on the board,” she said on the areas that the team needs to improve.
