UPW-W vs GG-W

A clinic dished out by the Giants and Mooney was the star of the show to that end. With six points from as many games, this is already their best ever WPL season till date. They won't be happy with that alone though - wins in their last two games will secure them a berth in the knockouts. They face the Delhi Capitals next on Friday at this very venue while the UP Warriorz, after this battering today, are in a zone of last-chance now. They simply have to win their remaining two matches with their net run-rate in the abyss now. Can they turn things around in a few days' time?

Beth Mooney (96* off 59) is undoubtedly today's Player of the Match. Here's what she has to say: The way we started with the bat, Harleen and I had that big partnership and it set us up beautifully. Had that impetus from Deandra, Ash and Phoebe later on. Looks like a nice blueprint and hopefully teams will start batting first (laughs). (When did she assess conditions?) Probably during the game. I've faced a lot of their bowlers in international cricket and I understood their plans. Decided to go down the ground. Batting first you've got to sum up the conditions really quickly and do what works out best for you. I thought Harleen did that quickly and batted fantastically well. We're very lucky in this team that we have a couple of left-handers in the top-order. Having left and right throughout the innings helps especially if there are a few different spinners in the opposition. I can help the right-handers by facing left-arm spin and they can help taking on the right-arm offies. The great thing about playing the WPL is you learn about different players from around the world. Yeah that's right (was forcing Harleen to run hard). No resting at the non-striker's end when I'm out there batting. Hopefully she can get back for a couple of my twos the next game (grins).

Ashleigh Gardner (Gujarat Giants captain): Yes, which is really nice (defending). Obviously set up by a fantastic innings from Beth Mooney. A bummer she couldn't get a hundred but a nice partnership with Harleen that set it up for D-Dot (Dottin) to come and do her thing. There's always things you can improve on. In the last five overs you want to limit dot balls which we probably had a few there, whether it was not getting Moons or strike or hitting out from the first ball. If anything, that was probably the one nitpicky thing but it was a great game. (On the total) Those runs are always good because you know the other team has to go hard from ball one. I spoke to the team and said that we had to bowl well and take those chances. We set the tone really early - Deandra doing what she does so well, to swing the ball, she's so skillful and Kashvee was fantastic. We've been so close this year in so many games. That first game, we always reflect on that, it could have gone either way. We've played some really good cricket. Being able to rest between every game is something we've spoken about. Making sure that now that a game's finished, we turn up for the next game. Against Delhi Capitals we know it'll be a tough match. They're all tough matches here on but we're looking forward to it.

Phoebe Litchfield (Gujarat Giants): Yeah to come out here and play the way we did, a very happy camp. We spoke about it in the last three games and finally we managed a near perfect performance. We had a really good practice session yesterday. This was the best wicket we played on in India. Moons understood the pitch very well and conveyed to us that 180 was needed. Yeah I think, it was a clinical knock. Beth is a 360 player, when she gets in it's very difficult to get her out. Once she gets over 20, it gets very difficult, have faced the brunt in domestic cricket. Yeah I think the way Dottin and Kashvee bowled with the ball was quite special. It was a great sight to see from the slip. It nicely floated off the outside edge, it was fun indeed. Yeah hopefully we have lifted the very negative net run rate.

Deepti Sharma (UP Warriorz captain): I felt it was a chaseable target but we lost back to back wickets early so we couldn't chase it down. The top four five batters needed to take the initiative which didn't happen. Hopefully we don't repeat the mistakes in the next two games. We had to focus on partnership as the pitch was good and one or two good partnerships would have seen us through. Bowlers have to step up, the batters can't perform everyday. Everyone has to take responsibility, myself included.

10:42 PM local time: Gujarat Giants beat UP Warriorz by 81 runs.

Beth Mooney 96* (59) | Kashvee Gautam 3/11 (3)
Chinelle Henry 28 (14) | Sophie Ecclestone 2/34 (4)

But for the toss, absolutely everything went the way of the Gujarat Giants today. A Beth Mooney masterclass with the bat set things up as they posted a monstrous 186 - a total that would prove to be far too many for the Warriorz as they found out. Things went pear-shaped from the very first over as Kiran Navgire nicked off for a golden duck before Georgia Voll, on WPL debut, was castled by a pearler as Deandra Dottin ran riot.

It only went from bad to worse though as Kashvee Gautam and Meghna Singh joined the party, dismissing Vrinda Dinesh and skipper Deepti Sharma respectively. The pacers got the ball to move in the air and they landed it on the money to leave the Warriorz in tatters. Grace Harris, who opened the innings again, ran out of partners and with the asking rate climbing, even she couldn't provide that thrust that her team was after. Her innings ended on 25 off 30 deliveries as she was trapped in front by Tanuja Kanwar, who enjoyed a fabulous outing with the ball again.

Thereafter, it was a question of when and not if. Chinelle Henry once again entertained with some lusty blows but this was too tall an order for her too as wickets kept tumbling. Kanwar slowed the pace up to dismiss her, marking the final nail in the UPW coffin as Kashvee returned to pick up two more. She did not get a hat-trick but Kanwar duly wrapped things up to hand the Giants their biggest win by runs in the tournament's history.

For the first time ever, Gujarat Giants have won back-to-back games in the WPL. With both those wins coming by a huge margin, they've managed to boost their net run-rate too to a solid one. Second on the table above the Mumbai Indians now although they have played one extra game and those playoff hopes have surely been reignited! Stick around for the presentation...

What a resounding win this is for the Giants! Dominance from start to finish and they rise to second on the table above Mumbai Indians on net run-rate!

17.1 Tanuja Kanwar to Sophie Ecclestone, WICKET! Gujarat Giants win by 81 runs. They have annihilated the UP Warriorz and are very much in contention to qualify for the playoffs. A flighted fuller-length delivery around middle, Ecclestone goes for the big slog across the line, gets beaten comprehensively and the stumps goes for a toss. What a thoroughly convincing performance from the Gujarat Giants. 

Yet another bow in celebration from Kashvee! She has had the ball on a string and Gouher Sultana nicks off first ball. Chance to finish this off with a hat-trick for Kashvee.

16.4 Kashvee Gautam to Gouher Sultana, WICKET! Gouher Sultana goes first ball and GG just one wicket away from registering a comprehensive win. A good-length delivery a tad outside off, Sultana tries to push it towards the off side, ends up getting a clear deflection which has been brilliantly pouched by Beth Mooney behind the stumps. Kashvee Gautam is on a hat-trick.

Gouher Sultana c Beth Mooney b Kashvee Gautam 0 (1b, 0x4, 0x6)

16.3 Kashvee Gautam to Uma Chetry, WICKET! That's the 8th wicket gone and both teams are merely going through their motions here at the moment. Chetry makes some room and tries to access the off side field, was on a good-length around middle, Chetry ends up slicing it aerially and straight down the throat of the backward point fielder who doesn't make a mistake.

Uma Chetry c Tanuja Kanwar b Kashvee Gautam 17 (22b, 1x4, 0x6)