🏏WPL 2023 - UP Warriorz W vs Gujarat Giants W: Match 17 🏏

🏏WPL 2023 - UP Warriorz W vs Gujarat Giants W at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai on 20/03/2023 at 3:30 PM IST🏏

UP Warriorz's WPL 2023 campaign has ebbed and flowed. Three wins that have varied from lopsided contest to an edge-of-the-seat thriller have been punctuated by three losses of varying degrees as well. As such, they sit right in the middle separating the two dominant sides with a Q against their name already and the two most inconsistent ones who are currently seeking favours.

Funnily enough, with the latest set of 'upsets' the league has been seeing at the business end, UPW have a shot at topping the table as well as stand the chance of getting eliminated. Not just their own, the Warriorz hold the fate of others in their hands as well. Simply put, a win in any of their two remaining games will lock the last remaining knockouts berth of them while simultaneously eliminating the bottom-two - and that's all the team's focus would be on as they return to Brabourne for their reverse fixture against Gujarat Giants in Monday's double-header.

With their dismal NRR of -2.51, Giants' slim outside chance hinges on not just Warriorz' misery in the two remaining games, but also a favour from MI in their final league game against RCB. And they need all of those to be decided by significant margins for them to make gains in NRR column. Virtually eliminated form this qualifications race, all Giants can do is focus on the controllables.

This will be Gujarat's third straight game at the CCI and the last two have seen both a low-scoring thriller and a high-action chase. Giants defended a sub-par 147 against Delhi Capitals in a last-over finish to revive their playoffs scope before running into a rampaging Sophie Devine who made even a challenging total of 188 look pedestrian on Saturday.

Against UPW's spin-heavy attack - they used 18/20 overs of spin in their win against Mumbai Indians - Giants will have to come up with an equally good batting show, if not better, and then hope there isn't another equivalent of a Grace Harris heist from their previous clash to officially send them packing.

Team News

Gujarat Giants:Their batting order was questionable last game - moving an in-form Harleen Deol down to No.6 in favour of a low on confidence S Meghana - but Giants seem to have zeroed in on a combination that works for them. They could likely stick to the same XI.

Probable XI: Sophia Dunkley, Laura Wolvaardt, Harleen Deol, Ashleigh Gardner, Dayalan Hemalatha, Sabbhineni Meghana, Sushma Verma (wk), Sneh Rana (C), Ashwani Kumari/Hurley Gala, Kim Garth, Tanuja Kanwar

UP Warriorz: The only team to have beaten table-toppers Mumbai Indians so far, UPW might be tempted to retain the same side for this game. Shweta Sehrawat, since the two single-digit scores at the top, has been dropping down the order to now find herself out of the first-choice XI. Her replacement and another one from that U19 World Cup winning batch, Parshavi Chopra has impressed in her debut match and would likely continue to hold on to her spot.

Probable XI: Alyssa Healy (C & wk), Devika Vaidya, Kiran Navgire, Tahlia McGrath, Grace Harris, Deepti Sharma, Simran Shaikh, Sophie Ecclestone, Parshavi Chopra, Anjali Sarvani, Rajeshwari Gayakwad

Gujarat Giants vs UP Warriorz Pitch Report

Eight matches have been played at the Brabourne Stadium thus far. While four have been won by the chasing teams, four have gone in favor of the team batting first. But both teams might want to chase, keeping in mind the outcome of their previous matches.

Gujarat Giants vs UP Warriorz Weather Forecast

There is no chance of rain for the time being. Temperatures will be around the 31-degree Celsius mark. The humidity will be in the 50s.

What they said:

"I've had a good couple of weeks since the halfway point in the World Cup. I started not so great, but during that tournament we had a psychologist with us and I was talking a lot to her. We just spoke about controlling the controllables. And I feel like that's kind of taken a lot of pressure off of me to know that I've done all of the work that I can do off of the field and on the field you can't always control the results. So that mindset has helped me a bit lately, especially with these back to back tours and games just to take a bit of pressure off of myself and enjoy my batting" - Laura Wolvaardt on her recent good run for South Africa and Gujarat Giants.

"There's no pressure as such, we're taking it one match at a time. We are focusing on ourselves and not on what other teams are doing" - UPW vice-captain Deepti Sharma wants her team to keep it simple.

Players to watch

Ashleigh Gardner has done it for Giants with the bat and ball, having been their finisher and regular wicket-taker, including in the powerplay. She is their second-highest scorer and is also their joint-highest wicket-taker, and if Monday turns out to be their last game, expect another top performance from her to sign off.

Left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone is the joint top wicket-taker in the WPL with 12 strikes and also gives Warriorz a more than handy batting option lower down the order, which she showed with a match-winning six against Mumbai on Saturday.

Stats and trivia

• Warriorz and Giants have the worst scoring rates in the powerplays in WPL as of now - 6.30 and 6.38 respectively

• While bowling, Giants have leaked runs at the worst rate (9.35) in powerplays whereas Warriorz have taken the fewest wickets (six) in the same phase

• There are six spinners among the top seven wicket-takers in the WPL so far, and two of them are from Warriorz - Ecclestone and Deepti Sharma

Raji, thank you  for the thread and for tagging me. 🤗 

This will be an interesting match, the fight will be fierce to get a place to play off. 

UP Warriorz have their fate in their own hands whereas Gujarat Giants are almost down and out – only an improbable chance remains for the latter team to make it to the playoffs. The Warriorz will be high on confidence as they defeated the table toppers, Mumbai Indians, in their previous game. Their spinners came to the fore and ruled the roost on a track which assisted spinners. With the pitches getting lower and slower, they would once again be backing their spinners. They have good batting depth as well. On the other hand, the Giants were blown away by a scintillating knock from Sophia Devine in their previous game. It was a morale-deflating defeat for them and that can have a psychological effect on them. They need to fire as a unit if they are to make a comeback today. Can Gujarat Giants prove their mettle? Or will UP Warriorz coast to another victory to lock their playoffs spot? It promises to be a cracker!

Gujarat Giants are coming off an 8-wicket loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore Women. 

On a good batting wicket, Gujarat posted a solid 188-4 on the board. 

However, Bangalore chased the target with almost 5 overs remaining. Laura Wolvaardt impressed again with a classy 68 off 42 balls. While this season looks over for the Giants, they can seriously consider Wolvaardt as their permanent opener.

Gujarat’s bowling has been dominated by Kim Garth who has taken 9 wickets this season at an economy of 7.80. 

Gardner has also picked up 9 wickets with her off-spin this season but has gone at an economy of 9.54. Sneh Rana (5 wickets at an economy of 7.90) has made an impact with her off-breaks too.