Women's Cricket
WPL 2026: Gujarat Giants start campaign with win over UP Warriorz
Gujarat Giants beat the UP Warriorz by ten runs.
Ashleigh Gardner and Anushka Sharma stitched a 103-run partnership for Gujarat Giants (Photo credit: WPL/Twitter)
The Gujarat Giants started their 2026 Women's Premier League campaign with a comfortable ten-run victory over the UP Warriorz at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Saturday.
Having being asked to bat first, the Giants rode on the back of a stunning half-century from skipper Ashleigh Gardner to post a whopping 207/4 on the board.
Gardner smashed six boundaries and three sixes in her 41-ball 65 before she was cleaned up by the left-arm spin of Sophie Ecclestone.
The Australian all-rounder found an able ally in debutant Anushka Sharma (44). Together, the duo stitched a 103-run stand off just 63 deliveries for the third wicket.
Sharma hit seven boundaries in her 30-ball stay and ensured that the Giants never lost the momentum after Sophie Devine went back to the hut, scoring an explosive 20-ball 38 while opening the innings.
Georgia Wareham (27*) and Bharti Fulmali (14*) provided the finishing touches as the Giants posted a daunting first innings score.
Ecclestone was the pick of the bowlers for the Warriorz, finishing with figures of 2-32 in her four overs.
Chasing a massive target, the Warriorz stumbled early on as Kiran Navgire was sent packing in the first over of the chase by Renuka Singh Thakur.
Skipper Meg Lanning (30) and her Australian counterpart Phoebe Litchfield stitched a 70-run stand off 46 deliveries for the second wicket to stabilise the innings. But once Lanning was trapped leg before wicket by Wareham in the ninth over, the Warriorz chase fell apart.
Harleen Deol fell for a duck and Deepti Sharma could only muster a single as the Warriorz lost their way.
Litchfield (78) kept fighting from the other end and found a good ally in Shewta Sehrawat (25), but the asking rate was too much to contain.
Once Litchfield and Sehrawat fell in consecutive overs, there was nothing much left for the Warriorz.
Asha Sobhana fought a losing battle, scoring an unbeaten 10-ball 27 as they fell short by ten runs.
Devine, Wareham, and Thakur scalped two wickets apiece as the Giants were restricted to 197/8.
