NEW DELHI: It took a change of venue to change the fortunes of
Gujarat Giants
. Having lost all their games in the Bengaluru leg,
Laura Wolvaardt
and
Beth Mooney
broke the shackles for the struggling franchise to shred Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) bowling to pieces as Giants registered their first win in the tournament this year at the
Arun Jaitley Stadium
on Wednesday.
Wolvaardt’s 45-ball 76 and Mooney’s unbeaten 85 off 51 balls helped Giants post 199/5 to set up a 19-run win.
The square at the Arun Jaitley stadium has been producing a deluge of runs since the World Cup in Oct-Nov. Coming out to open, Mooney and Wolvaardt cashed in on the true-paced pitch to put up a 140-run partnership in 13 overs.
The duo looked so dominant at the crease that run out seemed the only way that could halt the partnership. Wolvaardt’s powerful knock came to an end when she fell short of the crease.
Giants have been overly dependent on their overseas talent. The Indian talent in the team has struggled to put in any contribution of note. Mooney and Wolvaardt took it upon themselves to put their team in a position of strength.
Their opening partnership added more runs than what the team was able to put up in the previous matches in Bengaluru. Their impeccable power-hitting showed why they have been such dominant players on the world stage. After the fall of Wolvaardt, Giants could add 59 off the remaining seven overs.
Even while defending the target, the overseas players had to do the heavy lifting for Giants. Meghna Singh and Tanuja Kanwer looked completely out of sorts after Ashleigh Gardner and Kathryn Bryce put the RCB under pressure early on in the chase.
While Gardner and Bryce returned figures of 2/23 and 1/26 respectively, the Indian bowlers Meghna, Kanwer and Shabnam MD conceded 112 runs in 11 overs between them.
Perhaps that was enough for Giants to survive the late Georgia Wareham’s late onslaught of 48 off 22 balls. Almost all RCB batters looked threatening but could not build an innings like Wolvaardt and Mooney did which resulted in RCB losing eight wickets.
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