Gujarat Giants comfortably overcome sloppy UP Warriorz

Sophie Devine's all-round effort (50 & 2-16) and Rajeshwai Gayakwad's spell of 3 for 16 paved the way for Gujarat Giants to return to winning ways in Women's Premier League 2026. They ended UP Warriorz two-match winning streak, beating the Meg Lanning-led side for the second time this season and moved to second spot on the points table with their massive 45-run win in Vadodara on Thursday.

Put in to bat, Giants made a solid start with Danielle Wyatt-Hodge, playing her first match of the season, cracking three boundaries early in the innings. Her stay lasted for only eight balls, but Beth Mooney (38) steadied the innings in the company of Anushka Sharma, Ash Gardner and Devine for a brief while.

A bit scratchy and out of form this season, Mooney couldn't get the move on like she would've wanted. Just when it seemed like she was about to cut loose with a couple of boundaries off Chloe Tryon, she threw her wicket away in the 13th over, mistiming a shot to mid off.

Having paced away to 38 for 1 within four overs, the scoring rate had clawed back. With Warriorz striking at regular intervals, Giants found themselves at 93 for 4 in the 13th over. Devine measured her attack even in the death overs, but with wickets falling regularly at the other end while the batters looked for the big shots, Giants couldn't find the required pace. However, Devine clubbed a couple of sixes in the last over, which yielded 16 runs, to register her half century and help Giants to a competitive 153 for 8.

In response, Warriorz struggled in the chase. Kiran Navgire fell for another duck; this time stumped to a delivery down the leg side by Renuka Singh. The onus fell yet again on Meg Lanning and Pheobe Litchfield to control the innings. It was going well till the fifth over when Lanning missed a pull to a delivery that didn't rise as high as she had anticipated before she too was stumped in similar fashion to that of Navgire.

However, Litchfield, with her range of strokes, kept the scoreboard ticking. Even as Harleen Deol struggled to pick pace in her innings, at the time of the southpaw's dismissal in the eighth over when she was dismissed playing a reverse sweep, Warriorz were very much in the hunt of the target. But her dismissal triggered a collapse.

Gayakwad, returning to the XI, ripped through the middle order, sending back Deepti Sharma, Shweta Sehrawat and S Asha in quick succession. By then, Harleen's innings was also cut short for a painful 12-ball three. Devine returned for her second spell and ran through the tail while Tryon attempted to put up a solo fight. Warriorz were bundled out in the 18th over for 108.

Brief Scores: Gujarat Giants 153/8 in 20 overs (Sophie Devine 50, Beth Mooney 38; Kranti Gaud 2-18, Sophie Eccelestone 2-22) beat UP Warriorz 108 in 17.3 overs (Phoebe Litchfield 32, Chloe Tron 30*; Rajeshwari Gayakwad 3-16, Sophie Devine 2-16) by 45 runs