Gujarat Giants secured an impressive 11-run victory against the Delhi Capitals in the 14th match of the Women's Premier League (WPL) at Brabourne Stadium on Thursday.
The Giants, led by Laura Wolvaardt and Ashleigh Gardner, posted a total of 147/4 in 20 overs. In response, Delhi Capitals suffered a major collapse and were reduced to 100/8 by the 15th over. However, a late surge from Arundhati Reddy (25 off 17 balls) and Shikha Pandey (unbeaten on 14) threatened the Giants' lead, but they eventually finished on the winning side.
With this win, Gujarat Giants moved ahead of Royal Challengers Bangalore to escape the bottom of the points table.
After winning the toss, Delhi Capitals opted to bowl first and got an early breakthrough by dismissing Sophia Dunkley in the opening over. However, Wolvaardt and Gardner stabilized the innings with a crucial 81-run partnership for the third wicket.
Gardner was the more aggressive of the two, playing some fantastic shots and contributing 67 off just 44 deliveries. Wolvaardt scored 57 runs before departing in the 19th over.
In their chase, Delhi Capitals lost opener Shafali Verma early but got a steady start from Alice Capsey and Meg Lanning. However, some tight bowling from Gujarat Giants put pressure on Delhi Capitals, leading to the dismissals of Capsey and Jemimah Rodrigues.
Marizanne Kapp tried to keep Delhi Capitals in the game with her aggressive batting, scoring 36 off 28 balls. But the Giants' bowlers held their nerve and dismissed Kapp, Jess Jonassen, and Taniyaa Bhatia in quick succession to shift the momentum in their favor.
Reddy played a valiant knock but eventually fell to Kim Garth in the 18th over, while Poonam Yadav was dismissed in the next over to secure the victory for Gujarat Giants.
With this win, Gujarat Giants moved to fifth place in the WPL points table, while Delhi Capitals remain at third.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Giants 147/4 in 20 overs (Laura Wolvaardt 57, Ashleigh Gardner 51 not out; Jess Jonassen 2-38, Marizanne Kapp 1-24) beat Delhi Capitals 136 all out in 18.4 overs (Marizanne Kapp 36, Arundhati Reddy 25; Kim Garth 2-18, Tanuja Kanwar 2-19) by 11 runs