Gujarat Giants 178 for 5 (Deol 70*, Mooney 44, Pandey 2-31, Jonassen 2-38) beat Delhi Capitals 177 for 5 (Lanning 92, Shafali 40, Meghna 3-35) by five wickets
By taking down the table-toppers who are already in the playoffs, Giants overtook Mumbai Indians to go second on the points table with a better NRR, although MI still have two games in hand compared to Giants’ one. Giants’ win also meant it was the end of the road for UP Warriorz, who can’t make it to the playoffs anymore. Giants and MI will now face-off in a crucial penultimate league game on March 10 in Mumbai.
The Giants chase was set up by a steady 44 from Mooney, a wonderfully-paced and unbeaten 70 off 49 from Deol and a power-packed 24 off 10 from Dottin before Kashvee Gautam stole the show when they needed 13 from seven.
Mooney and Deol lay the base
Giants are not known for their power-hitters at the top of the order and they didn’t change their template even in a steep chase. They were 15 for 1 after four overs as Mooney and Deol aimed to stay steady after the early loss of D Hemalatha, whose wretched run of form continued. Mooney went over the infield consistently to collect boundaries and it was the fifth over that kicked things off for Giants. Deol got going with two fours in a 13-run over and repeated the feat in the next over when she used the pace of Annabel Sutherland to push the run rate past six as the powerplay ended.
With the asking rate at an exact ten, Giants had a mountain to climb. Mooney made Deol run hard between the wickets and when the duo collected four fours in the space of seven balls just before the halfway mark, the chase was truly alive. Capitals had their forgettable moment of fielding too when Deol, on 27, lofted Jess Jonassen down the ground and Shafali went to her right from long-off but the ball burst through her hands and let go of a chance that potentially cost them the match.
The big hits from the big names
Giants were handed a big blow when Mooney found Sutherland at long-off off Minnu Mani in the 12th over, but that meant Capitals had to try and constrain Giants’ big hitters now. And they couldn’t. Gardner got off the mark with a four before smashing a glorious straight six off Marizanne Kapp that brought the equation down to 73 off 43 which soon became 66 off 36.
Deol then got a second life, on 45, when Sutherland failed to hold on to a return catch. Gardner unleashed another six, this time off a Sutherland slower ball over midwicket. Deol brought up her first WPL fifty since 2023, off 38 balls, with a boundary to point; and even though Gardner holed out for 22, Dottin and Deol smashed back-to-back sixes to make it 36 off 23. The Capitals quicks took pace off the ball, brought Jonassen back but nothing helped. Dottin smoked Jonassen for 4, 6 and 4 to different parts of the leg-side boundary that shrunk the equation to 16 off 14.
Capitals thought they had a chance when Jonassen finished the over with the wickets of Dottin and Phoebe Litchfield, before Shikha Pandey gave away just two off five balls of the 19th over, but Gautam dispatched a length ball over wide long-on. Deol followed it with a four before Gautam hit the winning runs.
