Lucknow, March 3 (IANS) UP Warriorz skipper Deepti Sharma didn’t mince her words after her team suffered a crushing 81-run defeat at the hands of the Gujarat Giants in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2025 here on Monday. Chasing a stiff target of 187, UPW never got going, losing four wickets inside the power-play and eventually folding for 105 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium.
“It was a chaseable target, and the outfield was pretty good. We lost back-to-back wickets and couldn’t chase it down. Our top 4-5 need to take initiative, and we repeated the mistakes from the last game. Hope we don’t repeat it in the coming games,” Deepti said after the match.
“The wicket looked good in the first innings, and we wanted to build partnerships. We thought we could chase it down if one batter had batted through. Our middle order needs to improve—we can’t only rely on our bowlers. Our batters need to step up, including myself,” she added.
Beth Mooney was the architect of Gujarat’s emphatic win, remaining unbeaten on 96 to power the team to 186/5. The target proved too steep for UP Warriorz, who lost Kiran Navgire and debutant Georgia Voll for ducks in the first two overs. Kashvee Gautam and Meghna Singh continued the assault, reducing UPW to 29/4 in the power-play.
Grace Harris, the only batter to offer some resistance, battled to 25 off 30, but her dismissal at the halfway mark left UPW with an uphill task. Chinelle Henry (28 off 14) provided a brief spark with a flurry of boundaries, but the required rate was already out of reach.
“The wicket looked good in the first innings, and we wanted to build partnerships. We thought we could chase it down if one batter had batted through. Our middle-order needs to improve — we can’t only rely on our bowlers. Our batters need to step up, including myself,” she added.
Tanuja Kanwar (3-17) and Kashvee Gautam (3-11) ensured there were no late twists, dismantling the lower order as UPW crumbled under pressure. With the commanding win, the Gujarat Giants surged to the second of the points table, keeping their playoff hopes alive in style.
–IANS
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