Gujarat Giants clashed against UP Warriorz today at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai today

(Image Source: ESPN Cricinfo Images)

Gujarat Giants Skipper Sneh Rana won the toss and opted to bat first, with a change in their playing 11, Monica Patel replaced S Meghana. Whereas Skipper Alyssa Healy came with unchanged playing 11. The battle for the final spot in the playoffs of the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League 2024 was played at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai.

Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals, being in the 1st and 2nd places at the points tally have gotten their ticket (Q) for the playoffs. Now for the last berth the Giants and Warriorz, both had their chances to qualify for the playoffs. Gujarat Giants was in the last place of the table and had a shot at the playoffs but their only concern remained was their net run rate (NRR) of -2.511 with which they might not end up being in the top three. Whereas UP Warriorz’s fate was in their own hand. They were in the 3rd place in the Points Tally and had a fair chance of securing the last available berth in the playoffs just by winning one match out of their remaining two matches.

Previously when both the sides clashed against each other, Grace Harris played one the best innings of the season, and ever since she has been scoring runs for the Warriorz. With Harris, Skipper Alyssa Healy, and Tahlia McGrath are also coming into their form lately. The Giants on the other hand have a strong batting lineup with Ashleigh Gardner, Laura Wolvaardt, and Harleen Deol but faced a thunderstorm named Sophie Devine in their last match against RCB.

The first innings for the top batting order of the Giants started feistily but only to get toggled up by the Warriorz spinners during the middle overs. Sophia Dunkley gave the needed start but couldn’t catapult her innings. The havoc was created in the middle overs by the partnership between Dayalan Hemalatha and Ashleigh Gardner which helped the Gujarat Giants to put a total of 178 runs on the board. Hemalatha scored 57 runs out of 33 balls with a strike rate of 172.72 and Ashleigh Gardner scored 60 runs out of 39 balls with a strike rate of 153.84. Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Parshavi Chopra took 2-2 wickets each respectively. Anjali Sarvani and Sophie Ecclestone took 1-1 door each respectively. Deepti Sharma and Grace Harris remained wicketless however, Deepti gave out 49 runs in her spell of 4 overs which is the maximum by any other bowler.

(Image Source: ESPN Cricinfo Images)

The second innings started low, and Warriorz lost their top order really quickly. Skipper Alyssa Healy, Devika Vaidya, and Kiran Navigre walked toward the dugout as soon as they came out to bat. Middle-order batter Tahlia McGrath provided the kind of start that the Warriorz needed and catapulted her innings to make a big score for herself. She made 57 runs out of 38 balls with a strike rate of 150.00. Grease Harris scored massive innings of 72 runs from 41 balls with a strike rate of 175.60. The partnership between McGrath and Grace Harris built the innings slowly and took the match to the last ball. On the other hand, Kim Garth took 2 valuable wickets in her spell and Monica Patel, Ashleigh Gardner, Skipper Sneh Rana, and Tanuja Kanwar took 1-1-1-1 wickets each respectively for the Giants. Harleen Deol gave 17 runs in her single-over spell and remained wicketless. UP Warriorz won the match by 3 wickets and 1 ball remaining and booked their last spot in the WPL playoffs.