New Delhi: Grace Harris did it again in a tricky chase against Gujarat Giants. Cracking half-centuries from Tahlia McGrath and Grace Harris helped their team to chase 179 to enter the playoffs while the journey for GG and RCB ends here. Things got tense after Harris got out in the 19th over, but Sophie Ecclestone took her team through.
Harris scored 72 off 41, hitting seven fours and four sixes while McGrath scored 57 off 38. With seven needed off the last over, Sneh Rana bowled tight lines and even got Simran Shaikh runout, but could not defend the total.
After losing three early wickets, it was the 78-run partnership between Harris and McGrath that laid the stage for the chase. Ashleigh Gardner managed to break the partnership, followed by Sneh Rana dismissing Deepti Sharma. A 42-run stand between Harris and Ecclestone not left much for the rest to do. Ecclestone scored a crucial 19* off 13 in the end as she finished things off with a boundary.
Gujarat Giants scored 178 as Dayalan Hemalatha and Ashleigh Gardner scored half-centuries. They got to a good start after the opening partnership of Sophia Dunkley and Laura Woolvardt laid 41 in four overs. Anjali Sarvani broke the partnership, followed by Dunkley and Harleen Deol dismissed by Rajeshwari Gayakwad as they stood 50/3.
Both innings had a similar trajectory and for GG, Hemalatha and Gardner laid a 93-run stand. Hemalatha and Gardner scored 57(33) and 60(39) respectively before India’s U-19 star Parshavi Chopra sent both of them back to the dugout. While the Giants looked to score about 190-200, clinical death overs by spinners Chopra and Ecclestone restricted them to 178.
With this, the inaugural edition of WPL has three teams that will be playing in the playoffs. While RCB and GG are out of the race, the round-robin stage is still interesting as the team finishing on the top will qualify directly to the finals.