Gujarat Giants were very close to their first win in the Women’s Premier League. UP Warriorz needed 19 runs in the last over. But they did not win that match. UP Warriors won their first match in the Women’s IPL by defeating Gujarat at the end of the last over.
Batting first, Gujarat scored 169 runs. Uttar Pradesh needed 19 runs in the last over to chase that target. Grace Harris hit a six on the first ball of the last over. She brought the team back to the match. Annabelle Sutherland bowled a wide with 13 off 5 balls . Gujarat captain Sneh Rana could not accept the umpire’s decision. She wanted a review. But the third umpire also declared that the ball was wide. The new rule in the women’s IPL is the opportunity to take a wide and no ball review.
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Sutherland’s next ball Grace hits it towards deep midwicket. Non-striker Sophie Eccleston’s bat fell from her hand while taking a run. There was an easy chance of a run out. But Sutherland managed to catch the ball from the boundary. Ecclestone reached the crease easily. Grace hit a four off the next ball. She sent the ball straight to the boundary past the bowler. 13 runs in the first three balls. In such a situation, a review is asked again. The umpire did not give Sutherland a wide. Grace wanted a review. The third umpire said the ball was wide. The Graces got one more run.
Five runs were required to win. In such a situation, the Gujarat fielder was standing at cover while catching Grace’s ball. Victory is only a matter of time. Grace won the match with a six with one ball to spare.
When Gujarat batted first , Meghana started with a breezy but a short lived 24 off 15 balls before Ecclestone got her out . Dunkley (13) who replaced injured Mooney for this game was bowled by Deepti Sharma but Harleen Deol batted steadily and then accelerated well to scored 46 runs in 32 balls for Gujarat with the bat and had good support from Gardner (25) . Later Hemlata scored a 13 ball 21 notout and with Sneh Rana (9 not out ) took Gujarat to a formidable 169/6. For UP, Deepti and Ecclestone took 2 wickets each .
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When UP warriors batted , they kept losing wickets at regular intervals asKim Garth took five wickets with the ball and almost single handedly wa taking Gujarat to a win. Healy (7), Sherawat (5) , McGrath (0) and Deepti (11) were out cheaply but Kiran Navgire who has a reputation to be an out and out basher , played a responsible knock of 53 off 43 balls and was looked dangerous for Gujarat as she hit some trademark powerful hits and 2 sixes . However her dismissal triggered another collapse with Simran and Devika getting out cheaply and UP Warriors were tottering at 105/7 in the 16th over and needed 65 in the last 4 when Grace Harris stepped up to show once again what she can do in big moments of the game .
All this alone was eclipsed by Grace Harris . She won the match by scoring a breathtaking 59 runs off 26 balls. Kiran Navagire (53) scored a superb half-century for UP Warriorz . Accompanied by Grace in the last over, Eccleston scored a spectacular 22 runs off 12 balls. She also took two wickets with the ball. Gujarat also lost their second match after a close .