“We still got some work to do, and with five games to go, we’re confident we can turn it around.” The Gujarat Giants head coach Michael Klinger is confident of turning things around in WPL 2024.
The Gujarat Giants led by skipper Beth Mooney got off to a disappointing start to the 2nd edition of the Women’s Premier League as they suffered a hat-trick of defeats in their first three games and as a result, are stranded at the bottom of the points table. They had a similar start to their campaign in the Inaugural edition of the tournament losing their skipper Beth Mooney in the first game of the season.
They now find themselves in a must-win situation in order to book a place in the knock-out stages of the tournament.
“We’ve got no other choice now, five games to go, we know we gotta get four wins to make the finals here, and we’re still in it, but we’ve got some work to do.” The Gujarat Giants’ head coach Michael Klinger is optimistic about the Giants turning it around in their remaining matches in the ongoing edition of the WPL.
Much like their story of the campaign in the inaugural edition, they suffered multiple injury setbacks losing the services of Lauren Cheatle and one of their most expensive picks Kashvee Gautam in WPL 2024. Gujarat named Lea Tahuhu and Sayali Satghare as their replacements for the ongoing 2nd edition of the tournament.
The Giants have failed to find a settled combination at the top of the order, trying out different players, the likes of Veda Krishnamurthy, Harleen Deol, and Laura Wolvaardt in the three games so far to open the innings alongside skipper Beth Mooney. Failure at the top of the order was a major contributor to Gujarat Giants’ batting woes. They have failed to breach the 150-run mark in their first three games so far.
Their highest total so far in the 2nd edition of the WPL came in their last game against the UP Warriorz when they posted a total of 142/5 after being inserted to bat first by the UP Warriorz skipper Alyssa Healy. Their lowest total this season came against RCB when they scored 107/7 after being inserted to bat first by skipper Smriti Mandhana.
“We’re not too far for our batting unit to click, it’s just a matter of staying confident and we want them to really back themselves as well. We’re probably just playing a little bit within ourselves as a batting group.” The Gujarat Giants’ head coach Michael Klinger backs the batting unit to fire collectively and deliver the performances going forward.
The left-arm spinner from England Sophie Ecclestone accounted for three big wickets of Laura Wolvaardt, skipper Beth Mooney, and Ashleigh Gardner the three mainstays of the Giants batting lineup playing a crucial role in keeping them under 160. Chasing a target of 143, skipper Alyssa Healy got off to a fluent start before Kathryn Bryce cleaned up skipper Alyssa Healy in the final over of the powerplay. However, Grace Harris destroyed the Gujarat Giants bowling attack, scoring an unbeaten 60 at a humongous strike rate of 181.81 to take her side over the line.
“We wanna play positive, proactive cricket, and the way we started, in that run chase was outstanding and that’s why we have players of the quality of Grace Harris in the middle order to get us over the line and she did that again tonight, which was pretty cool.” The UP Warriorz skipper Alyssa Healy speaks about adopting a proactive brand of cricket. She was awarded the Player of the Match for her match-winning innings (60 off 33 balls) with the bat.