MUMBAI: When Alice Capsey hit two sixes off Ashleigh Gardner at the end of the fifth over, it looked like Delhi Capitals would easily seal their playoff spot in this game. But against the run of play, they lost three wickets in 11 balls to lose their way as Gujarat Giants tightened their grip on the match, never relinquished it and recorded an 11-run win to keep their hopes alive in the WPL.
Giants' second win of the competition moves them to four points and keeps alive their hopes of at least making it to the eliminator, to be played between teams placed second and third.
On Saturday, they face Royal Challengers Bangalore, who recorded their first win of the tournament on Wednesday.
1/10:WPL: Gujarat Giants beat Delhi Capitals
IANS
2/10:Ashleigh Gardner
<p>Ashleigh Gardner's superb all-round performance ensured a hard-fought 11-run victory for Gujarat Giants over Delhi Capitals in Women's Premier League.</p>PTI
3/10:Gujarat fightback
<p>After setting a below-par target of 148 for Delhi Capitals to win, Gujarat fought back well to bowl out Delhi for 136 in 18.4 overs. </p>PTI
4/10:All-round performance
<p>Gardner first scored 51 off 33 balls with the bat and then took 2/19 in 3.4 overs under pressure to ease the road to victory for Giants.</p>Getty Images
5/10:Arundhati Reddy and Shikha Pandey
<p>Arundhati Reddy (25) and Shikha Pandey (8*) kept Delhi's hopes alive till late in the game with their 35-run ninth-wicket stand.</p>PTI
6/10:Kim Garth
<p>But Gujarat managed to pull off a favourable result with Kim Garth (4-0-18-2) and Gardner producing impressive spells. </p>PTI
7/10:Meg Lanning and Alice Capsey
<p>Delhi made a shaky start losing Shafali Verma (8) and Meg Lanning (18) inside the Powerplay, and also Alice Capsey (11-ball 22).</p>AFP
8/10:Laura Wolvaardt
<p>Earlier, half-centuries from Beth Mooney's replacement Laura Wolvaardt (57) and Gardner (51*) took Gujarat to 147/4. </p>PTI
9/10:Harleen Deol
<p>Harleen Deol once again got a start but could not convert it into a big score, perishing for a 33-ball 31 with four fours.</p>PTI
10/10:Match-winning stand
<p>Wolvaardt and Gardner added 81 runs for the third wicket from just 53 balls to help Gujarat recover from what had been a slow start. </p>PTIChasing 148, Capitals were nicely placed at 48/1 before the wheels came off. Their slide started with a double blow in the sixth over which saw skipper Meg Lanning(18; 15b, 3x4) caught leg-before by her Giants' counterpart Sneh Rana (1/27) and three balls later Capsey (22; 11b; 2x4 2x6) was run-out to a good glovework by Sushma Verma.
In the next over, Jemimah Rodrigues (1) was back in the pavilion as she tried to steer one fine off Kim Garth (2/18) but could only find Verma's gloves.
Capitals kept losing wickets and at 100/8 it looked like the Giants had sealed victory. For a short time, Arundhati Reddy (25; 17b, 4x4) gave them hope but she couldn't take them over the line.
Earlier, half-centuries from Laura Wolvaardt and Ashleigh Gardner saw Giants post 147/4. Wolvaardt scored a 45-ball 57 with the help of six fours and one six while Player of the Match Gardner's 51-run knock came in 33 balls (SR 154. 54; 9x4). Their third-wicket association of 81 from 53 balls helped Giants score 93 runs off the last 10 overs.
