Skipper Ashleigh Gardner led from the lead with a 31-ball 58 and a strong overall bowling performance as Gujarat Giants defeated Royal Challengers Bengaluru by six wickets with 21 balls to spare in Match 12 of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2025 at the M. Chinnasway stadium here on Thursday.
Chasing a modest goal of 126, Gujarat Giants rode their captain’s magnificent half-century and Phoebe Litchfield’s unbeaten 30 to reach 126/4 in 16.3 overs, securing their second win of the season as they aim to climb out of the bottom of the rankings. Defending champions RCB batted poorly on the power play, attempting too many quick runs, and were clumsy in the field, dropping critical catches against Litchfield as they lost their third consecutive defeat.
Chasing 126, the Gujarat Giants, coming off a run of defeats, got off to a solid start with Beth Mooney (17) and Dayalan Hemalatha (11) putting on 25 for the first wicket. However, they dropped the openers within eight balls on either side of the power play, with Renuka Singh first getting an edge behind off Hemalatha and then Mooney holing out to Georgia Wareham in deep.
The Gujarat Giants were 32/2 in the seventh over, and the stadium, packed with 28,000 noisy RCB fans, was vibrating as they looked for an unexpected win.
Gardner, however, stunned the crowd with a magnificent batting outburst, scoring her third half-century of the WPL 2025 just 28 balls. She first contributed 34 runs for the third wicket with Harleen Deol (5), followed by 45 runs with Litchfield for the fourth wicket, putting the Gujarat Giants on course for win.
Gardner, who began with a cover-driven four on the first ball she faced, turned things in GG’s favour by hammering Prema Rawat for a hat-trick of fours — two on the leg side and one hit on the up over cover — and a superb backfoot heave off a short ball over deep square leg fence for a six in the ninth over, which netted them 19 runs.
The Australian star got past fifty with back-to-back sixes off Wareham, who had the last laugh after Gardner chipped an easy return catch. Litchfield led a charmed life, scoring 30 (21b, 3×4, 1×6) and remaining at the wicket to lead the team home.
Earlier, Deandra Dottin collected 2-31, while Tanuja Kanwar claimed outstanding figures of 2-16 in her four overs as the Gujarat Giants reduced RCB to 125/7 after choosing to bowl first. RCB, aiming for a win after two defeats, got off to a bad start, falling to 26/3 on the power play.
Danni Wyatt-Hodge was the first out, caught LBW by Deandra Dottin on the fifth ball of the innings after starting with a four. Danni used the DRS but was unable to get the decision overturned.
For the first time in the WPL, the dangerous Ellyse Perry was dismissed for zero after mistiming a pull off a short delivery from Ash Gardner to Tanuja Kanwar at square leg. Skipper Smriti Mandhana fell to Tanjua, who was caught by Harleen Deol at deep midwicket as she went down on one knee to halt the dot ball pressure. Mandhana hit a four in her 20-ball 10.
Kanika Ahuja and Raghvi Bist rescued the RCB batting, which was struggling at 25/3, with a 48-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Fulmani’s superb pick-and-throw after Gardner dropped an easy catch at cover ended the partnership, as Raghvi (22) was stopped short as they attempted to sneak a run. Kanika hit a pair of massive sixes to score 33 off 28 balls. She blasted Priya Mishra for a four and the match’s first six off consecutive balls in an 18-run eighth over.
Richa Ghosh (9) and Kim Garth (14) were dismissed cheaply, but Georgia Wareham produced an unbeaten 20 to assist RCB to a modest total, which was ultimately insufficient as Gardner won the day.
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