Devine's midas touch takes Giants to victory

It was the day when whatever Sophie Devine touched turned to gold. She smashed 95 off 42 balls, picked 2 for 21 and defended seven runs off the last over against the run of play as the Gujarat Giants pipped Delhi Capitals in a thriller by four runs. Lizelle Lee (86), Laura Wolvaardt (77) and Nandani Sharma's hat-trick and five-wicket haul, in her second ever WPL game, took the Capitals close but they fell agonisingly short of the target of 210.

The equation came down to 7 off 6 and the first three deliveries by Devine were two dots and the wicket of Jemimah Rodrigues. Marizanne Kapp rotated strike to Wolvaardt but she could only find the hands of deep mid-wicket off the penultimate ball as Devine helped Giants seal a win from the jaws of defeat.

The Capitals began the chase with Lee being dropped early by Renuka Thakur off her own bowling, and then taking 10 off the over. The South African continued to be the aggressor in the PowerPlay consistently finding the boundary. Shafali Verma, on the other hand, found the going tough and fell for 14 off 12 after being castled by Rajeshwari Gayakwad. The Capitals were behind the eight-ball after the PowerPlay at 47 for 1 but Lee switched gears in the eighth over off Georgia Wareham to take 16 runs and brought up her 50.

She powered Devine for two fours and continued to look unstoppable. But Kashvee Gautam got the dangerous batter as Lee holed out to long-on. Chinelle Henry powered a couple of sixes but fell trying to hit another. Wolvaardt, who played anchor during Lee's onslaught, switched gears and clubbed the Giants spinners regularly down the ground and towards mid-wicket.

She brought up her 50 after consecutive boundaries off Gardner before ending the 18th over with a four and a six to take 19 off it. With 29 needed off 12, Gautam bowled a couple of no-balls before Wolvaardt lofted her for six. The South African hammered a half-volley through the covers before Rodrigues added a crucial boundary to take 22 off the 19th over before the Giants sealed it off the last ball in the final over.

Earlier, having been put in to bat, Beth Mooney got the Giants' innings underway with a boundary through square leg. Kapp, the opening bowler, burnt a review off the next ball in an attempt to overturn the umpire's on-field decision. Devine got her innings going with two boundaries off Henry as the Giants began in steady fashion.

Devine continued to up the ante, smashing two boundaries through the offside before hitting a six over Nandani's head in her first over. She carried on that initial momentum and went berserk in the sixth over. She brought up the 50-run stand with a boundary off Sneh Rana in the first ball before following it up with another boundary. The New Zealander then smacked four consecutive sixes to take 32 runs off the Sneh Rana over, the most expensive in WPL history. It also brought up her 50 off just 25 balls and the Giants ended the PowerPlay at 80 for 0.

Shree Charani broke the 94-run stand with a sharp return catch to dismiss Mooney but Devine didn't let her rest. She smashed three sixes to take 19 off the over as Devine entered the 90s. In pursuit of becoming the first ever centurion of the WPL, Devine swung across the line of a slower delivery by Nandani but just miscued it to the hands of fine-leg as she departed for 95 off just 42 balls. One brought two, as Charani had Wareham dismissed in the next over cheaply.

This brought the pair of Gardner and Anushka Sharma together, and the latter pumped a four and a six off Varma to continue the run scoring mojo. But she fell next ball after miscuing one to square leg. Bharti Fulmali too departed cheaply but Gardner continued to occupy the crease. She took 13 off Minnu Mani before clubbing sixes off Henry and Charani but holed out to long-on with her score on 49.

The last over saw Nandani scalp Gautam off the second ball before Kanika Ahuja was stumped off the fourth delivery. She then bowled Gayakwad and Thakur off the last two balls to complete her hat-trick as the Giants were bowled for 209. It meant that the Giants, who were 126 for 1 in 10.3 overs, scored only 83 runs in the last 10 overs.

Brief Scores: Gujarat Giants 209 in 20 overs (Sophie Devine 95, Ashleigh Gardner 49; Nandani Sharma 5-33, Shree Charani 2-42) Delhi Capitals 205/5 in 20 overs (Lizelle Lee 86, Laura Wolvaardt 77; Sophie Devine 2-21, Rajeshwari Gayakwad 1-11) by 21 runs