Giants win despite Sharma heroics

A remarkable unbeaten 88 in 60 balls from UP Warriorz allrounder Deepti Sharma was not enough to prevent her team from suffering defeat by eight runs at the hands of the Gujarat Giants in their Tata WPL match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Monday night.

Chasing a victory target of 153, the Warriorz self-destructed in the power play, losing their first four wickets for 16 and then their fifth for 35. It was 16-year-old Shabnam Shakil who blitzed the UP Warriorz top-order, claiming two wickets in her first over – including the prize scalp of Aussie superstar Alyssa Healey – and 3-11 overall.

The match seemed over as a serious contest, but Warriorz allrounder Sharma slammed nine fours and four sixes in her unbroken sixth-wicket partnership of 109 in 78 balls with Poonam Khemner (36 in 36 balls) that almost, but not quite, gained the Warriorz the unlikeliest of victories.

With five overs left, the Warriorz needed 55 for the win and 40 were still needed off the final two overs. Despite an onslaught from both players, however, the Warriorz were unable to clinch victory.

The win keeps the bottom-placed Giants’ hopes of qualifying for the playoffs technically alive – with one pool match left to play – while the Warriorz are out of contention, effectively if not mathematically.

WOLVAARDT SHINES

Earlier, the Giants flourished at the start and the end of their innings after they had won the toss and elected to bat first. Openers Laura Wolvaardt and Beth Mooney struck 53 without being parted during the power play, with Wolvaardt, in particular, playing a succession of fine shots.

Her handsome cover drives are well known but she also drove straight, pulled and swept her way to 43 in 30 balls (8x4s, 1x6) before she was lured out of her ground by Sophie Ecclestone’s left-arm spin and wicketkeeper Alyssa Healey did the rest as she whipped off the bails.

That made the total 60 in 7.5 overs and the foundation of the innings seemed to have been built. As it turned out, the middle overs were a frustration for the Gujarat batters as they struggled to maintain that momentum against the spin attack of the UP Warriorz.

The middle-order disappeared in the middle overs as Gujarat lost six wickets for 55 before Mooney, who had been a frustrated onlooker, finished with a flourish as she took 32 off the last two overs, including 21 off Ecclestone’s last over, to finish with an impressive 74 in 52 balls, including 10 fours and a six.

Ecclestone (3-38) and Sharma (2-22) were the most successful bowlers for the Warriorz, but their outfielding – with Mooney being dropped twice – was disappointing.