Deepti Sharma batted alone, but her undefeated 88-run performance was in vain as UP Warriorz lost by 8 runs against Gujarat Giants in the Women’s Premier League 2024 (WPL 2024) group stage match. With this setback, UP Warriorz has given RCB an ultimatum in the WPL 2024 playoff race.
Gujarat Giants openers Laura Wolvaardt and Beth Mooney walked down the crease to commence the inning with a boundary from Wolvaardt in the very first over as she was off the mark followed by Mooney stepping off the mark in the second over with a boundary too. Wolvaardt came up next in the third over with two more boundaries that were taken to a higher note in the following over with three fours in a row and two more in the fifth over, and she concluded the powerplay with her first maximum of the match.
Things were fitting in places for Wolvaardt and Giants but she finally met her unfortunate dismissal in the eighth over as Sophie Ecclestone got the breakthrough for her team outfoxing Wolvaardt at 43 off 30 balls. Dayalan Hemalatha, the fresh down too collapsed much disappointingly at a mere duck in the next over. And the sequence started changing for Giants as they saw another of their batter getting succumb in the 11th over this time in the name of Phoebe Litchfield at just 4 off 8 balls.
What A Start 👏
— Women's Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) March 11, 2024
Young Shabnam Shakil shocks #UPW with 2 big wickets in the first over
Live 💻 📱https://t.co/WHTYqs2Bd5#TATAWPL | #GGvUPW pic.twitter.com/KL4N47aofI
After much pressure gaining ground, Mooney showed her valour to open up her arms for another time to release the torment after the powerplay as she hit her first maximum in the 11th over followed by a four in the same over. Ashleigh Gardner too joined hands with Mooney to get her first boundary in the 13th over followed by her first maximum in the next over but couldn’t last longer than the 14th over as Rajeshwari Gayakwad attacked back to get her out at just 15 off 10.
ALSO READ: WPL 2024: Top Performances By Domestic Players In Week 2
Bharti Fulmali was the next in the queue to get dismissed in the 15th over at just 1 off 4 balls but Kathryn Bryce came in the middle of the inning to contribute for two boundaries, one in the 16th and another in the 17th before getting departed for the pavilion in the following over at the hands of Sophie Ecclestone who scalped one more in the same 18th over in the name of Tanuja Kanwar (1 off 3).
Mooney kept trying from the other end with her two consecutive boundaries in the 19th over and finally summing the last over up with five wonderful boundaries which saw Shabnam MD’s run out amid those to set the scoreboard at 152 for the loss of 8.
Although the chase started with a banging boundary on the very first ball of the first over, but the over saw two catastrophic downfalls as Alyssa Healy and Chamari Athapaththu left for the pavilion much early in the chase which was followed by another wicket in the name of Kiran Navgire at a duck. Despite Deepti Sharma coming in at fourth and playing valiantly to remove the pressure, but that was not enough as Grace Harris too got dismissed at just 1 in the fourth over.
Incredible fighting knock!@Deepti_Sharma06 nearly pulled off a memorable win for the @UPWarriorz
— Women's Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) March 11, 2024
Live 💻📱https://t.co/WHTYqs2Bd5 #TATAWPL | #GGvUPW pic.twitter.com/jpDiBMUljw
ALSO READ: WPL 2024: Qualification Scenarios For All Teams After Week 2
Sharma was in-form in this match too scoring runs at her charm and hitting two boundaries in the last over of the powerplay to put the score at 30 and Shweta Sehrawat could just add two boundaries before departing for the pavilion in the seventh over as Shabnam MD bowled her out at just 8. And Poonam Khemnar was coming in to hit her first boundary in the ninth over contemplated by one boundary each in the tenth and eleventh over. For the next two overs, the batters kept rotating the strike for singles.
Sharma went on to hit her first six in the fourteenth over followed by Khemnar’s boundary in the same over. And Sharma was going a mile ahead with a four in the 15th over and another six in the 16th over which was contemplated well by both of them as Sharma hit another boundary and Khemnar came up with her first boundary in the 17th over of the WPL 2024.
After a silent 18th over, the 19th over arrived with both their boundaries and Sharma fought till the end with two final sixes in the last over but that fell short of 8 runs concluding the chase at 144 for the loss of 5.
WPL 2024: Gujarat Giants vs UP Warriorz Brief Score
Gujarat Giants 152/8 in 20 overs (Beth Mooney 74*, Laura Wolvaardt 43; Sophie Ecclestone 3-38) beat UP Warriorz 144/5 in 20 overs (Deepti Sharma 88*, Poonam Khemnar 36*; Shabnam Shakil 3-11) by 8 runs.
Click Here to get the latest news related to Women’s Cricket. You can also check about Match predictions here. Like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram for more updates.
