Gujarat Giants dominated Delhi Capitals in their face off at the Women’s Premier League on Thursday. While Delhi opted to bowl first and even managed to restrict Gujarat for 147/4, in the end it proved to be 11 runs too many for Delhi at the Brabourne Stadium. Laura Wolvaardt and Ashleigh Gardner were the star performers for Gujarat with the bat scoring 57 off 45 balls and 51* from 33 deliveries respectively.
In addition, Delhi batters Meg Lanning (18), Alice Capsey (22) and Marizanne Kapp (36) got starts but none could build a partnership or play a counter attacking innings that might have forced Gujarat to alter their plans. In the end, Arundhati Reddy’s 25 off 17 brought Delhi close but Gujarat came out on top. The Sneh Rana-led side produced a clinical bowling performance with Kim Garth (2 for 19) and Tanuja Kanwar (2 for 29) being the pick of the bowlers. Gardner stepped up when her team needed her the most and followed her half-century with a spell of 2 for 19, also breaking Delhi’s last partnership to seal the win for her side.
Earlier, Jess Jonassen had picked 2 wickets for Delhi but conceded a little too many in the context of the game, giving away 38 runs. Marizanne Kapp and Reddy were the wicket takers for the team who are placed second on the table.
Post the match, Delhi captain Lanning said that had the team managed to bat out their quota of 20 overs, they could have easily won the match. Her remark came as her side were bowled out with 8 balls still to be bowled. While she acknowledged that Gujarat did bowl well, she also pointed out the mistakes done from their end as a batting contingent with shot selection a key area of concern.
She said that it has been a hectic tournament so far and with a day off scheduled in the competition on Friday, no one would mind a break in a competition with shot turn around time.
