Gujarat Giants end 40-match streak in WPL after opting to bat against Mumbai Indians
Gujarat Giants and Mumbai Indians locked horns today in the penultimate league stage match of the Women's Premier League (WPL). The Giants won the toss and opted to bat first to end the 40-match streak in the T20 competition. Know more about the record:
Gujarat Giants and Mumbai Indians today locked horns in the 19th match of the ongoing Women's Premier League (WPL) season. It is the penultimate match of the league stage, which will also decide the second team to qualify for the playoffs. With this being a huge pressure game, the Giants decided to bat first after winning the toss, and with it, ended the 40-match streak in the WPL.
For the first time in 41 matches, a team winning the toss opted to bat first. The last time a team opted to bat first after winning the toss in WPL was the Delhi Capitals against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the final of the 2024 season.
Gardner reveals the reason to bat first
The Giants skipper, Ashleigh Gardner, confirmed at the toss that they wanted to post a total on the board in the pressure game. The Giants are also facing a 0-8 record against Mumbai Indians in the WPL history and they seem determined to do something different to register their first ever win over them.
"We just have to look at the games that we’ve won. We’ve always set a really good marker early on in our innings. Ultimately, we’re basically playing a quarterfinal here, so we know we have to do both skills really well. But I think we can set the game up with the bat in hand and then hopefully try and defend it with the ball. Same team as the last game.
"The past is the past, and we just need to focus on what the present looks like. I know when we play really good cricket, we win games of cricket. We just have to reflect on the last game we played against these guys. We put on 190 and obviously weren’t able to defend it, but there are so many positives we can take out of that game, and also positives from this season. The stats speak for themselves, but I think we have a great opportunity tonight to try and change that," Gardner said at the toss.
Playing XIs
Mumbai Indians Women (Playing XI): Hayley Matthews, Sajeevan Sajana, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Amanjot Kaur, Amelia Kerr, Rahila Firdous(w), Sanskriti Gupta, Vaishnavi Sharma, Shabnim Ismail, Poonam Khemnar
Gujarat Giants Women (Playing XI): Beth Mooney(w), Sophie Devine, Anushka Sharma, Ashleigh Gardner(c), Georgia Wareham, Bharti Fulmali, Kanika Ahuja, Kashvee Gautam, Tanuja Kanwer, Renuka Singh Thakur, Rajeshwari Gayakwad