Gujarat Giants: Building on a breakthrough season amid familiar batting questions

Where they finished in WPL 2025: Third. After having won only two games in each of the first two seasons, Giants put in their strongest performance last season. After making a slow start, they went into a three-match winning run and secured their first-ever playoffs berth, with uncapped players like Kashvee Gautam and Tanuja Kanwar putting in strong performances.

Mega-auction overhaul: Head coach Michael Klinger said he would've been happy with a small auction as well to rejig the side and balance out the playing field a fair bit. But at the big auction, they preferred not to be big spenders. After retaining Ash Gardner and Beth Mooney, they bought back Kashvee Gautam, Kim Garth, Tanuja Kanwar and Bharti Fulmali. Their biggest spends - of over a crore - were on the overseas all-round duo of Sophie Devine and Georgia Wareham. They have balanced out their squad well, but yet again left their batting heavily reliant on the overseas imports.

Newsmaker(s): Yastika Bhatia - The southpaw has been away from action with a knee injury since featuring for India A in August 2025. Giants snapped her services for INR 50 lac, but it's uncertain if she will be available this season. In her absence, the Indian batting line-up looks extremely inexperienced.

Watch out for: Anushka Sharma - The 22-year-old middle order batter from Madhya Pradesh has worked extensively on her power hitting skills over the past year and a half, and caught the attention of the WPL scouts with her performances in MP Women's League and the BCCI inter-zonals. While the Giants' coaching staff is impressed by her talent, her ability to perform under high pressure is yet to be tested.

Probable XI: Beth Mooney (wk), Sophie Devine, Anushka Sharma, Ash Gardner (c), Bharti Fulmali, Kanika Ahuja, Georgia Wareham, Kashvee Gautam, Tanuja Kanwar, Titas Sadhu, Renuka Thakur

Bench: Happy Kumari, Kim Garth, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Ayushi Soni, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shivani Singh

Schedule:Gujarat Giants would hope to adjust quickly to the conditions in Navi Mumbai, especially given that they have three games in the first four days of their campaign before the matches space out fairly well for them. Each of their four games in their home leg, in Baroda, comes with at least a three-day gap.

Jan 10: vs UPW at 3:30 PM in Navi Mumbai

Jan 11: vs DC at 7:30 PM in Navi Mumbai

Jan 13: vs MI at 7:30 PM in Navi Mumbai

Jan 16: vs RCB at 7:30 PM in Navi Mumbai

Jan 19: vs RCB at 7:30 PM in Vadodara

Jan 22: vs UPW at 7:30 PM in Vadodara

Jan 27: vs DC at 7:30 PM in Vadodara

Jan 30: vs MI at 7:30 PM in Vadodara