Navi Mumbai: India batter Harleen Deol stood tall with a counter-attacking 46 off 32 balls but the UP Warriorz spin duo of Sophie Ecclestone and Deepti Sharma bowled tidy spells to restrict Gujarat Giants to a par 169 for six in the Women’s Premier League here Sunday.
The world’s No.1-ranked T20I bowler Sophie returned with 2/25, while Deepti also bagged two (2/27) as the spin duo operated cleverly in the middle overs to stymie Gujarat’s progress.
Returning to the same venue a day after they folded up for 64 to endure a 143-run defeat against Mumbai Indians in the WPL opener, Gujarat Giants got off to an explosive start after opting to bat.
Sabbhineni Meghana (24; 15b) and Sophia Dunkley (13; 11b) countered Anjali Sarvani’s pace attack with aplomb. Meghana teed off with back-to-back boundaries before Dunkley got it going with as many fours.
The Giants were cruising at 10 per over after three overs when Deepti gave the crucial breakthrough when she yorked the English batter in her first over.
At the other end, Sophie Ecclestone also got into the act dismissing Meghana off her third delivery.
Ecclestone got her second wicket when she dismissed Annabel Sutherland (8) cheaply, while Tahlia McGrath made it 76/4 around the halfway mark after she had wicketkeeper-batter Sushma Verma (9).
But Harleen revived their innings in the company of world’s top-ranked all-rounder Ashleigh Garnder (25) as the duo made rapid progress in the middle overs.
Ashleigh was looking ominous when she hit Deepti for a boundary in the 16th over but the Indian off-spinner foxed her with a tossed up delivery to stump the batter.
But Harleen ensured that they kept the momentum when she hit Devika Vaidya for three boundaries in a row but missed fifty by four runs after being dismissed by Anjali Sarvani.
PTI
