Gardner, Wolvaardt deliver vital win for Gujarat Giants

Fifties from Ash Gardner and Laura Wolvaardt followed by a disciplined bowling effort gave Gujarat Giants a much-needed win in the WPL on Thursday (March 16) over Delhi Capitals. A win for DC would have helped them secure a berth in the playoffs but they have now been forced to wait following a batting collapse that saw them slip to a loss by 11 runs.

Gujarat Giants just couldn’t find any sort of momentum in the first half of the innings. Sophia Dunkley mistimed one to get caught at mid-on in the very first over of the game and even though Wolvaardt and Harleen Deol hit a boundary each in the following three overs, Gujarat still made only 24 in the first five overs. Wolvaardt then added another boundary in the final over of the powerplay but had plenty to do in order to make up. Unfortunately, Harleen couldn’t tee off and nicked one behind in the 10th over to depart for 31 off 33. By the halfway point, Gujarat only had 54 on the board.

Gardner gave her side the much-needed impetus with back-to-back boundaries off Shikha Pandey and followed it up with another four off Radha Yadav as the run rate finally crept over six. Both Wolvaardt and Gardner then turned on the heat as the South African took on Jess Jonassen to hit for a six over long on followed by two more fours in the same over. She brought up a fifty off 41 balls and was bowled for 57 in the penultimate over of the innings. Gardner then took charge in the final two overs as she found the boundary four times to bring up a 32-ball fifty that took Gujarat close to the 150-run mark, something that was nowhere in sight at one stage.

Fortunes swung in crazy fashion in the run chase in the powerplay for Delhi Capitals. Shafali Varma lost her stumps and departed early after fetching a six earlier in the over. But Alice Capsey put Gujarat under the pump immediately as she hit a couple of boundaries before smashing Gardner for successive sixes. As a result Capitals raced to 44 after just five overs as the playoff spot appeared to be in their grasp. However, the final over of the powerplay changed the complexion of the game as Meg Lanning was trapped leg-before-wicket by Sneh Rana before Capsey’s run out as Capitals found themselves in a tricky position at 51/3.

Things only got worse after the powerplay. Kim Garth found the outside edge of Jemimah Rodrigues to peg them back further. Even though Marizanne Kapp hit a few boundaries to guide DC to 78 by the halfway stage, Jonassen mistimed one off Harleen to leave DC reeling at 81/5. Kapp then appeared to keep DC in the hunt with a four and a six off back-to-back deliveries but the batting side suffered a double blow with Taniya Bhatia getting bowled by Gardner which was then followed by Kapp’s run out. Tanuja Kanwar then took Gujarat one step closer to a win by removing Radha Yadav in her final over to reduce Capitals to 100/8.

At 100/8, only one result appeared in sight before Arundhati Reddy came up with a late twist. She hit a boundary off Tanuja and Harleen before punishing a full toss from Sneh Rana. And then a sloppy Gujarat almost threw the game away when Rana gifted them five extra runs as a result of a wide that went to the boundary which was then followed by a fumble in the following over that also reached the ropes. Suddenly, the equation came down to a gettable 15 from 16. But Arundhati chipped one straight to Rana at extra cover to give the bowling side hope again. And they cashed in by removing Poonam Yadav for a duck in the penultimate over to pick up a nervy win.

Brief scores:

Gujarat Giants 147/4 in 20 overs (Laura Wolvaardt 57, Ash Gardner 51*; Jess Jonassen 2/38) beat Delhi Capitals 136 in 18.4 overs (Marizanne Kapp 36; Kim Garth 2/18, Ash Gardner 2/19) by 11 runs.

(Cricbuzz)