A well-rested Gujarat Giants will be looking to bounce back from the Vadodara leg when it faces Delhi Capitals in the Women’s Premier League at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Tuesday.
The Ashleigh Gardner-led side will return to action after a week’s gap – a luxury in this tightly scheduled tournament. However, it will hope to put the two forgettable defeats – against Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Mumbai Indians – behind it and take the positives from its lone win so far (against UP Warriorz).
DC will be looking for a quick turnaround, with head coach Jonathan Batty confident of the Chinnaswamy conditions, turning favourable for the side after it lost to UPW last Saturday.
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Having met four times before in WPL, DC has gotten the better of GG on three occasions. However, it was Gardner’s all-around performance during the inaugural season – an <a href="https://sports-info.online/2025/01/23/cricket/senior-womens-odi-trophy-2024-krantis-four-fer-anushkas-unbeaten-half-century-helps-madhya-pradesh-beat-bengal-by-seven-wickets-to-lift-maiden-title/” title=”Senior Women’s ODI Trophy 2024: Kranti’s four-fer, Anushka’s unbeaten half-century helps Madhya Pradesh beat Bengal by seven wickets to lift maiden title”>unbeaten half-century (51 off 33 balls) and figures of 2/19 – that led the side to its only win against the Capitals.
Come Tuesday, the Australian will aim for another such performance and try to continue her pristine form with both the bat and the ball.
However, the 27-year-old will be wanting her top-order batters to contribute a bit more. Apart from Beth Mooney’s half-century in the tournament opener against RCB, South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt and Indian Dayalan Hemalatha are yet to get their seasons up and running.
And with DC’s pace troika of Marizanne Kapp, Shikha Pandey, and Arundhati Reddy – coupled with tweaker Jess Jonassen’s form – coming off a great outing in the last match, the GG batters will be wary of the moving ball on the grassy tops at the Chinnaswamy.
In the Capitals’ camp, openers Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma have so far had a hot-and-cold campaign. The side will be riding on Jemimah Rodrigues seemingly having found her footing with her third WPL fifty last match.
Opposing them with the ball could be pacers Kashvee Gautam and Deandra Dottin and spinner Priya Mishra who took those three wickets against the Warriorz.
Speaking to Sportstar on the eve of the match, Kashvee acknowledged the pace-friendly conditions at the Chinnaswamy. “It’s good that the ball is swinging, but we need to bowl on the stump line. Any sort of width, and it is sure to go for a boundary.”
