In a game that kept fans on the edge of their seats until the very last ball, Gujarat Giants managed to hold their nerve to secure a 10-run victory over UP Warriorz. It was a proper run-fest at the DY Patil Stadium, with both teams combining for over 400 runs. Gujarat set the tone with a massive 207/4, and while the Warriorz fought back gallantly behind a spectacular half-century from Phoebe Litchfield, they eventually ran out of steam, finishing at 197/8.
The Giants’ innings was built on the back of a captain’s knock by Ashleigh Gardner. After being sent into bat, Gujarat lost their openers relatively early, but Gardner took charge with a commanding 65 off 41 balls, peppered with six boundaries and three sixes. She found an able partner in Anushka Sharma, who played a supporting role with a steady 44 off 30 balls. Together, they shared a crucial 103-run partnership for the third wicket that shifted the momentum entirely in Gujarat’s favor.
Just when the Warriorz thought they had pulled things back by dismissing Gardner in the 18th over, Georgia Wareham turned the heat up even further. Wareham played a blink-and-miss-it cameo, smashing an unbeaten 27 off just 10 deliveries, including three massive sixes. This late blitz pushed the Giants past the 200-run mark, leaving the Warriorz with a mountain to climb. Sophie Ecclestone was the pick of the bowlers for UP, taking 2 for 32, but the rest of the attack struggled to contain the flow of runs.
The chase started on a rocky note for the Warriorz as Renuka Singh Thakur cleaned up Kiran Navgire for just 1 in the opening over. However, Meg Lanning and Phoebe Litchfield didn’t let the early setback faze them. They stitched together a 70-run stand for the second wicket, with Lanning playing the anchor role (30 off 27) and Litchfield taking the attack to the bowlers. At 73/1 in the 9th over, the Warriorz looked like they were cruising, but then a sudden collapse saw them lose three wickets for just one run in the space of five balls.
Despite the middle-order wobble, Phoebe Litchfield kept the dream alive with a breathtaking display of hitting. She looked in a different league, smashing 78 off only 40 balls, hitting eight fours and five sixes. She found some support from Shweta Sehrawat (25 off 17), but as the required run rate climbed toward 14 an over, the pressure became too much. When Litchfield finally fell in the 16th over to Sophie Devine, the game seemed over, but Asha Sobhana had other plans.
Sobhana provided one final twist, matching Wareham’s earlier heroics with her own 27* off 10 balls. She cleared the ropes twice in the final over, but the target of 208 proved just a bridge too far. For the Giants, Georgia Wareham capped off an incredible day by following up her batting cameo with figures of 2/30, while Renuka Singh Thakur’s early and middle-over strikes (2/25) were instrumental in choking the chase. It was a high-octane encounter that proved why the WPL is such a crowd favorite.
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