WPL 2023: Ashleigh Gardner’s all-round heroics power Gujarat Giants to 11-run win over Delhi Capitals
Ashleigh Gardner produced a starring all-round performance to help Gujarat Giants eke out an 11-run win over.
High-flying Delhi Capitals and stay alive in the race to the playoffs of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2023 on Thursday. This is GG’s second win of the WPL 2023 and first in the last three matches.
The Capitals’ start with the bat was reminiscent of the Giants’, as their swashbuckling prodigy, Shafali Verma, recorded her second consecutive single-digit score. Unlike the Deol-Wolvaardt duo, Alice Capsey and Meg Lanning did not seem to enjoy the risk-free batting approach.
The first five overs yielded 44 runs before the sixth over changed the game. Rana had the last laugh in a thrilling battle of captains, trapping Lanning leg before wicket before Capsey was run out due to a lack of coordination with Jemimah Rodrigues.
Despite the fact that the Capitals needed 13 runs off the final two overs, they had run out of reliable batting options, as Gardner scored two points for her team
Earlier, South African opener Laura Wolvaardt hit a 45-ball 57 and Australia all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner scored an unbeaten 51 to help Gujarat Giants post a competitive 147 for 4 against Delhi Capitals at Brabourne.
Right-handed South African batter Wolvaardt brought up her maiden half-century of the tournament in her third game of the series, but not without struggling in the early stages with timing and placement. Wolvaardt was out in the penultimate over of Gujarat Giants’ innings by Arundhati Reddy (3-0-25-1). She finished on 57 from 45 balls, with six fours and one six.
Gardner, on the other hand, did well to hit nine fours and remain unbeaten on 51 from 33 balls. After a slow start, Gujarat Giants turned the tables on Delhi Capitals by scoring 94 runs in the final 10 overs, with 53 runs coming off the final 30 balls. Gardner reached her half-century in 32 balls in the final over of the innings, bringing her team’s total to 147/4.