UP Warriorz vs Gujarat Giants: Grace Harris hit the winning runs.UP Warriorz vs Gujarat Giants, Women’s Premier League: Australian all-rounder Grace Harris played an inspired innings as she guided UP Warriorz to a thrilling three-wicket win against Gujarat Giants in the Women’s Premier League, on Sunday. Chasing 170 for victory, the Warriorz were in dire straits at 88 for six, but Harris (59 n.o. of 26 balls) and Sophie Ecclestone (22 n.o.) changed the complexion, unleashing a flurry of fours and sixes as they helped the team eke out a memorable win. Earlier, Gujarat Giants pace bowler Kim Garth (5/36) had brought Gujarat Giants at the doorsteps of victory with a five-wicket haul by reducing the Warriorz to 88 for 6. But Harris singlehandedly turned to game on its head to seal the win in the penultimate ball.
Gujarat Giants XI: Sneh Rana (c), Sophia Dunkley, Sushma Verma (wk), S Meghana, Hemalatha Dayalan, Harleen Deol, Tanuja Kanwer, Annabel Sutherland, Mansi Joshi, Ashleigh Gardner
UP Warriorz XI: Alyssa Healy (capt, wk), Shweta Sehrawat, Tahlia McGrath, Deepti Sharma, Grace Harris, Kiran Navgire, Devika Vaidya, Simran Shaikh, Sophie Ecclestone, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Anjali Sarvani
WPL teams captains pose with the trophy during the Women's Premier League's inauguration, in Navi Mumbai. (PTI)
A four off the third ball makes it 6 needed of 3 balls. Then a wide and then a four and a six to end the game. Grace Harris has done the unthinkable. UP Warriors have stolen victory right from the jaws of defeat. What a game.. what a chase. UP Warriorz won by 3 Wickets
Sutherland's last over begins with a huge hit for six. 13 needed from five balls. Then a wide, so that makes it 12 needed from 5 balls.
Gardner to Ecclestone and its a flat batted SIX! Ecclestone swivels across, gets hold of the pull and clears deep square leg! Annabel Sutherland to bowl the last over. Score after 19 overs, UPW: 151/7 | 19 needed off 6 balls
Grace Harris and Sophie Ecclestone have turned it around in the last two overs. After scoring 10 from the Tanuja Kanwar over, the duo slam 20 off Kim Garth's last over. What a turnaround this has been. Score after 18 overs, UPW: 137/7 | need 33 from 12 balls
Sutherland snares Vaidya and its the slower off-cutter that does the trick and Vaidya is drawn into a false shot. A simple catch at mid-on.Sophie Ecclestone, right handed bat, comes to the crease. This game seems all but over. Score after 16 overs, UPW: 107/7 | need 63 runs in 24 balls
UP Warriorz reach 100-run mark in 15 overs but they have lost six wickets and need 70 runs in 5 overs. Will they be able to do it ?
Simran Shaikh is gone and five wickets for Kim Garth. She even got swing and seam movement early on in a place where there's been little for the pacers. The first two fifers of WPL have come from players born in Ireland and USA.
Tara Norris: Born in Philadelphia, USA
Kim Garth: Born in Dublin, Ireland (has played for Ireland before representing Australia)
Kiran Navgire departs for 53 and Kim Garth gets her fourth. Banged in short and Navgire has gloved to Verma who takes a good catch to her left! That is a massive wicket and who else but Garth to strike.
Deepti Sharma is bowled out for 11(16) by Mansi Joshi and that means UPW lose their fouth wicket. Length ball that tails back a touch into the batter. She tries to whack it across the line, is beaten comprehensively and sees her stumps in a mess. Score after 12 overs, UPW: 86/4
Kiran Navgire smashes Sneh Rana for a six! What a shot! She looks in sublime touch and is now unbeaten on 40 off 32. "Never saw Kiran Navgire so determined, her mindset has changed it seems. Has to score at a quick rate though," says Sourav on social media. Timeout! Score after 9 overs, UPW: 60/3
Kiran Navgire finds the fence as the bowler goes slightly short on leg. She manages to pull it behind square and into the boundary. Score after 8 overs, UPW: 51/3
Kiran Navgire executes the slog sweep to perfection and its a huge six. UPW are not going down without a fight. The PowerPlay comes to an end. Score after 6 overs, UPW: 35/3
Kim Garth picks up three in the over as she gets rid off Shweta Sehrawat and Tahlia McGrath. A seam bowling masterclass from Garth, and Giants are all over Warriorz. Garth should have got a third over. She was generating enough movement and when there's the opportunity to potentially kill the game for good. W 0 0 4 Wd2 W Wd W - What an over! Score after 3 overs, UPW: 20/3
Healy trying to whip one through the legside gets a leading edge and Garth gobbles up a simple caught and bowled catch. Healy can be an extremely dangerous batter but nevertheless an all-important breakthrough for the Giants. They need to keep picking wickets for themselves to give a chance to win this game as with dew setting in things might get easy for the batting side. Kiran Navgire walks into the middle as the new batter. Score after 2.4 overs, UPW: 17/0
Healy looking good with the bat. Kim Garth bowled a few full ones trying to exploit a bit of swing from the surface. However, the ball seems to go in straight lines. With the ball not moving too much and dew on the ground it will make the bowlers gripping the ball difficult for the Giants to pick wickets which in turn may affect their chance of winning this game. They might be trying to build dot balls and force a mistake on this belter of a track. Score after 1.3 overs, UPW: 8/0
Welcome back! We are back. We have a game on our hands Warriorz needs 170 runs from 20 overs. It is a decent total posted by Gujarat Giants. However, with dew around things might be getting a little easy for the Warriorz as the innings progress. However, runs on the board are always helpful and so far in the first two games of this inaugural WPL teams batting first have won.
A four in the last over from the bat of Sneh Rana and Gujarat Giants finish with 169/6! They should be happy with that. Harleen Deol's fiery knock at the end powers them to a challenging total. Dayalan Hemalatha also played little came of 21 of 13 balls. Can the UP Warriorz chase it down? Stay tuned for the next innings.
Dayalan Hemalatha (14*) smokes Deepti Sharma over long-on for a six to bring up 150 for Gujarat. Then a four to follow it and that makes it 12 from the penultimate over. How much will they get from here? Score after 19 overs, GG: 160/6
Anjali Sarvani gets rid off Harleen Deol for 46. A brilliant knock comes to an end. Two overs remaining in the innings
Harleen Deol gets the measure of Devika Vaidya and hits three fours in a row. Excellent comeback from her after a slow start. But wait another FOUR, so that is four in a row! WOW! 18 from the over of Vaidya. This is just the platform Gujarat would have wanted towards the end. Score after 17 overs, GG: 141/5
Deepti Sharma, after conceding a four off the first ball, gets the big wicket of Ashleigh Gardner who was looking dangerous. She once again went down the track but fell to the guile of Sharma. Score after 16 overs, GG: 123/5
Ashleigh Gardner goes down the ground to Gayakwad and smashes it past the fielder at cover for a boundary. Next over, she once again goes down the track and over long on for a mighty six! 100 up for Gujarat and it is also time for a strategic timeout! Score after 14 overs, GG: 103/4
GONE! Disaster as Sushma Verma and Harleen Deol were trying to rebuild for Gujarat Giants but Verma is dismissed by Tahlia McGrath. Sushma Verma went for a big swing against the line and could only find the fielder in the deep. Score after 11 overs, GG: 78/4
Another quiet over, just seven from it as Gujarat continue to motor along. There's a clear difference in quality and approach of Indian batters and overseas batters we are witnessing in WPL. Indian batters are lacking the power hitting approach and intent and may be skills as well ! Score after 9 overs, GG: 58/3
Ecclestone gives the ball some air and it dips onto the batter Sutherland who has a mighty swing at it but cant clear long on. Pretty good bowling changes by Healy so far. Using Sophie nicely in tough PP overs. Score after 8 overs, GG: 51/3
Sabbhineni Meghana hits Sophie Ecclestone for a four and then is caught by Shweta Sehrawat one ball later. Ecclestone celebrates. Score after 5 overs, GGT: 39/2
Bowled!! Dunkley is gone for 13 off 11 and Deepti Sharma gets the breakthrough! Dunkley tried to go down but yorked herself. Deepti Sharma strikes in her first over. Score after 4 overs, GG: 34/1
Anjali Sarvani, comes into the attack and is welcomes to the crease with back to back boundaries. Sabbhineni Meghana has exploded at the start. While the first one was a cut, the next one was off the edge. The over goes from bad to worse as Sophia Dunkley then smashes off the last two balls of the over to the fence. Score after 2 overs, GG: 20/0
Meghana and Dunkley are at the crease. Meghana is on strike. Gayakwad will open the attack. Just 3 from the first over. Score after 1 overs, GG: 3/0
"This is a big stage for the domestic players. Many players were nervous and overwhelmed yesterday, so I had to work on them before today's game. We couldn't execute our plans against Mumbai Indians, but they will be clear today. One loss isn't a huge setback, we do have the ability to bounce back soon in such a tournament."
Alyssa Healy(w/c), Shweta Sehrawat, Tahlia McGrath, Deepti Sharma, Grace Harris, Simran Shaikh, Kiran Navgire, Devika Vaidya, Sophie Ecclestone, Anjali Sarvani, Rajeshwari Gayakwad
Sabbhineni Meghana, Harleen Deol, Ashleigh Gardner, Sophia Dunkley, Annabel Sutherland, Kim Garth, Sushma Verma(w), Dayalan Hemalatha, Sneh Rana(c), Tanuja Kanwar, Mansi Joshi
Sneh Rana: "We are waiting for that (update on Mooney's injury) from the physio. We are going to bat first. It's a used pitch. We have three changes in the team. Dunkley, Monika and Kim come in."
Alyssa Healy: "We would like to have a bat, every team is batting first and posting good scores. The girls are excited to be here, I am a bit nervous. Representing UP Warriorz with pride. It's been amazing to watch. The excitement levels have been amazing, great to see the fans coming and supporting us. We have had to make a few tough decisions. Have some quality spinners in our attack."
Gujarat Giants have won the toss and have opted to bat.
The surface has a greenish tinge to it but it does look like a good batting surface.
"It's just the start, some of the players soak it up early, some will take time (on players getting ready at this level). A learning curve for us and we'll come back strongly... This was just the first match, we need to keep our heads high, we have players who have done well at the domestic level and we'll certainly look to comeback stronger tomorrow."
UP Warriorz Squad: Alyssa Healy(w/c), Kiran Navgire, Devika Vaidya, Simran Shaikh, Deepti Sharma, Tahlia McGrath, Parshavi Chopra, Shweta Sehrawat, Soppadhandi Yashasri, Sophie Ecclestone, Shabnim Ismail, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Grace Harris, Lauren Bell, Anjali Sarvani, Laxmi Yadav
Gujarat Giants Squad: Kim Garth, Dayalan Hemalatha, Sabbhineni Meghana, Ashleigh Gardner, Sophia Dunkley, Beth Mooney(w/c), Harleen Deol, Hurley Gala, Annabel Sutherland, Sushma Verma, Sneh Rana, Georgia Wareham, Mansi Joshi, Monica Patel, Ashwani Kumari, Shabnam Md Shakil, Parunika Sisodia, Tanuja Kanwar
Former India captain Anjum Chopra is a bit disappointed that most franchises have opted for foreign players in leadership roles in the inaugural WPL, saying capable Indian players should have been handed the responsibility. "I didn't like that most of the teams have opted for foreign players as captains because it's an Indian league and will be played in Indian conditions, so Indian players should have been captains if they have capabilities," she said. Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore opted for Indian captains in Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana respectively, while the other teams went with Australian players -- Meg Lanning (Delhi Capitals), Beth Mooney (Gujarat Giants) and Alyssa Healy (UP Warriorz) in leadership roles.
One of their greatest strengths can turn out to be one of the greatest weaknesses of the Giants: they lack a core of quality experienced Indian players. Just like in the IPL, the playing XI will have to be made of seven home-grown players in addition to four overseas ones. The Giants are sorted in the overseas department but except Deol and Rana, they have relatively fresh faces in the fray. Sure, some of these players may have a breakout tournament. But right now, it looks like the team might struggle to balance the quality of the foreign players with the Indian ones.
When it comes to overseas players, the Giants have a squad that will be the envy of all the other franchises with Ashleigh Gardner (Australia), Beth Mooney (Australia), Deandra Dottin (West Indies), and Sophia Dunkley (England) all on their books. Along with these international stalwarts, the team also boasts the likes of Indian players like Sneh Rana as well as Harleen Deol. On paper, the team looks to be all-rounder-heavy with Gardner, Deol and Dunkley all capable players with the bat as well as the ball which might prove to be the difference in crunch matches.
Striking the right balance in the playing XI would be the biggest challenge for the Warriorz because the squad have so many experienced players. In a bid to put out the best XI, many youngsters like Navgire, Laxmi Yadav, and Simran Shaikh might have to warm the bench.
The UP Warriorz have had a young trio of top players from India’s U-19 World Cup-winning squad. Shweta Sehrawat, Parshavi Chopra, and S Yashasri could be a surprise package as Shweta and Parshavi were among the top performers for India. They played a key role in the team’s historic victory. They will have an opportunity to do well in the first season and make their way to the senior Indian side. Warriorz will also be looking at Kiran Prabhu Navgire, who came into the spotlight after becoming the first Indian to hit a 150-plus score in a T20 match during her record-breaking 76-ball 162 for Nagaland against Arunachal Pradesh.
The Warriorz have a strong set of players like Tahlia McGrath, who was the third-highest run-scorer in the India vs Australia series last year, as well as England’s Sophie Ecclestone. With the inclusion of U-19 World Cup’s top scorer Shweta Sehrawat, they strengthened their squad to the core. The experienced players in the side will have the responsibility to take the team to success.
The team will be led by one of the most experienced campaigners in women’s cricket: destructive opening batter Alyssa Healy, who will have a reliable Indian in the form of Deepti Sharma as her deputy in the first season of the WPL.
The inaugural season of the much-awaited Women’s Premier League (WPL) is here and it seems UP Warriorz are one of the most promising sides whose owners forked out Rs 757 crore ($92.85 million approx) to get the rights of the team. The team was bought for the lowest amount among the five franchises but the decisions they made on the auction table in January 2023 have made this team the top contender for the title. The team will play their first match on Sunday against Gujarat Giants.
Giants released an official statement and said that they could not ‘obtain a medical clearance for Dottin before the defined deadline’ while adding that the franchise looks forward to having her as part of the team in the upcoming seasons.
UP Warriorz will begin their WPL 2023 campaign against Gujarat Giants, at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Sunday. UP will try to start the campaign with a victory in the WPL 2023. Gujarat Giants would like to come back stronger after a poor outing in the last game. Who will come up trumps tonight? Stay tuned for live updates