Gujarat Giants 144 for 4 (Gardner 52, Deol 34*, Dottin 33*, Ecclestone 2-16) beat UP Warriorz 143 for 9 (Deepti 39, Mishra 3-25) by six wickets
With the injured Alyssa Healy not available and Chamari Athapaththu making way for Alana King, Warriorz lacked power up front. New captain Deepti Sharma’s 39 and Sophie Ecclestone’s excellent bowling performance went in vain as Giants bounced back from the opening-day loss against Royal Challengers Bengaluru to get off the mark early in the tournament.
Gardner hits second fifty as Giants captain
Gardner carried on from where she left off, scoring yet another crucial fifty to lift Giants from 2 for 2. After her unbeaten 79 in the opener against RCB, Gardner came in to bat as early as the second over after Giants lost Beth Mooney and D Hemalatha early. She got going by scoring back-to-back fours off the debutant fast bowler Kranti Goud in the third over.
She was particularly brutal against Saima Thakor, who conceded 20 runs in the fifth over. Two of the three sixes of the over were hit by Gardner, one over long-on and another towards deep midwicket.
Gardner used her feet well to charge down the ground when necessary and converted full tosses into fours or sixes. With Laura Wolvaardt, she stitched a crucial 55-run stand for the third wicket.
She brought up her fifty off 28 balls, with a humongous six over deep square leg off Alana King after flicking away the previous ball to deep backward square leg for four. Overall, she hit five fours and three sixes.
Dottin’s all-round performance
After Tahlia McGrath dismissed Gardner in the 12th over, Giants needed 58 off 49 balls. But Dottin came in and swung her bat straightaway over midwicket to collect her first six, off King. Putting her power game to use, she punished McGrath for two more fours in the next over and released pressure off Giants.
The dew factor and a few dropped catches didn’t help Warriorz either as Deol also played the role of anchor to keep the chase at a healthy run-rate. Deol made an unbeaten 34 off 30 balls while Dottin hit a quickfire 33 that included three fours and two sixes.
Earlier, with the ball, Dottin struck in the second over, dismissing Kiran Navgire with an inswinger and then knocked off Uma Chetry with a short ball in the tenth over when Warriorz were just trying to steady the ship after a few early wickets.
Mishra’s momentum-changing over
Warriorz were 73 for 3 after 10 overs, and with the likes of big-hitters such as McGrath and Grace Harris yet to come, they would have hoped for a lift-off. But Mishra landed a big blow by removing both the Australians in the span of three deliveries. For McGrath, she bowled a googly that skidded on in line of middle and off and scrapped past the batter’s inside edge and hit the knee flap first, and then off the bat and onto the pads. McGrath reviewed the lbw decision but it was turned down.
A ball later, she bowled another googly, a flighted delivery on off, and Harris went for a big slog across the line only to be beaten on the inside edge as the ball crashed onto the stumps. Mishra let out a loud roar after producing a statement performance.
Warriorz struggle with the bat
After being asked to bat, Warriorz decided to open with Kiran Navgire and Vrinda Dinesh, who had suffered a shoulder injury last season after playing four matches. But neither of them made an impact with Dottin and Gardner striking inside the powerplay.
Uma Chetry, at No.3, also toiled to middle a lot of deliveries but utilised her strong bottom hand to smash four boundaries in her 27-ball 24. With Deepti at the other end, the duo produced a 51-run partnership to rescue Warriorz from early jitters. Deepti, who had hit an unbeaten 88 against Giants last year while batting at No.4 the only other time before Sunday, was the positive of the lot and smashed 39 off 27. She used her trademark sweep shots to good effect and also kept the scorecard ticking in the middle overs with pull shots and punches off the backfoot. Eventually, Deepti was also dismissed by Mishra in the 15th over.
Despite the late flourish at the end of the innings thanks to Saima Thakor and Alana King, Warriorz were found wanting with the bat.
Srinidhi Ramanujam is a sub-editor with ESPNcricinfo