Good to see the Gujarat Giants leaving the misery of the Bangalore leg behind them and making a fresh start here in Delhi. They're not out of it yet by any means, and if Mooney and Wolvaardt can carry the same form into the remaining games, watch out. Meanwhile, RCB continue to blow hot and cold. They're still in second place though, but that could change tomorrow as Mumbai Indians go up against UP Warriorz. Do join us then. That's all for now. Goodbye!
Mooney, Gujarat Giants captain and POTM: Was a bit too close at the end for my liking, my heart rate was a little high. But yeah, stoked to get on the board. Everyone responded really well. There were a few eyebrows raised when we chose to bat. But Mike and I had a chat and wanted to get ahead of the game. Laura batted the house down. She was amazing tonight, took a lot of pressure off me. She's a beautiful batter when she gets going. Not as good as Laura (talking about herself), just happy to finally contribute. Been a tough season so far. Absolutely pumped for the girls. Ash bowled beautifully, TK got hit a bit but came back and bowled well.
Ashleigh Gardner: Plenty of emotions to be honest, we’ve been waiting for 5 games. Lot of happiness and satisfaction in the change room. We just played like we have nothing to lose, the girls set us up very well in the powerplay and we took a lot of confidence out of that. We knew that 200 was a score that we would have to get. Just exciting to see different people chipping in. She’s (Shabnam Shakil) a great signing, obviously such a raw talent, she’s a really good kid and willing to learn. She was so excited to get out there, told her that what she did today was awesome. Unfortunate she didn’t get rewarded for what she did tonight. Would personally love to see her with the new ball but with a player like her, you need to give her the best opportunity and that’s bowling outside the powerplay, just super happy for her. We have to take a lot of confidence out of what we did tonight, it was probably the closest performance to perfect.
Smriti Mandhana | RCB Captain: We definitely had a chat about them (Giants), they have world class players in their team. Feel 200 was chaseable, we probably should have had better partnerships but in the end they played well. They started off really well. They were scoring at a good run-rate but I felt like we pulled it back really well in the last 3-4 overs. We thought they might get to 220-230 but we pulled it back really well. It’s just about playing good cricket, it's not about batting first or second. Of course, I think teams batting first have won the last three games. If you can get a good total, around 190 plus and you’re in the game, especially if you can take some early wickets. Really pleased with Wareham, thought we might lose by a bigger margin but her knock was amazing. We’ll learn from our mistakes today, we’ll understand the conditions better, this was our first match here.
22:50 Local Time, 17:20 GMT, 22:50 IST: Big smile on Mooney's face as Gujarat get over the line at long last. She played a big role in it along with Wolvaardt as they put on an opening stand of 140 in just 13 overs after opting to bat first. There was a late comeback from the RCB bowlers, but even the target of 200 was a stiff one, no matter how good the pitch was to bat on. RCB then had a poor start with the bat as Meghana chewed up a few balls at the top while not going anywhere. Did they miss a trick by not going with Devine at the top knowing that it was a big target? Being 43/2 after 7 overs just left them with a lot of catching up to do, and despite the superb efforts of Wareham who scored 48 off 22 balls, they never looked like being in the chase, falling short in the end by 19 runs. Ash Gardner was excellent with the ball for Gujarat, returning figures of 2/23, while Kathryn Bryce did a good job as well. Stay tuned, we'll have the presentations shortly.
19.6
Gardner to Ekta Bisht, out Ekta Bisht Run Out!! 1 run completed Ekta Bisht run out (Veda/Gardner) 12(5) [6s-1]
Gardner to Ekta Bisht, THATS OUT!! Run Out!!
19.5
Gardner to Ekta Bisht, 2 runs, to deep mid-wicket
19.4
Gardner to Ekta Bisht, SIX, to deep mid-wicket
19.3
Gardner to Ekta Bisht, 2 runs, overpitched on off, hammered straight back and they get back for two as long-on cuts it off
19.2
Gardner to Simran, leg byes, 1 run, very full outside off, Bahadur goes for a sweep but is hit on the pad
19.1
Gardner to Ekta Bisht, 1 run, full and wide,
Ashleigh Gardner [3.0-0-11-2] is back into the attack
Ekta Bisht, left handed bat, comes to the crease
18.6
Meghna Singh to Simran, out Wareham Run Out!! 1 run completed. This time it looks like Wareham has been run out! Wanted to get on strike desperately so went for a tight second run, but ends up well short. Overpitched on off, Wareham run out (Wolvaardt/Meghna Singh) 48(22) [4s-6 6s-2]