Table-toppers Mumbai Indians will tackle fourth-placed Gujarat Giants on the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday.
Having confronted one another within the season opener, the Giants might be hoping to place up a greater present in its first reverse fixture, on condition that it misplaced by 143 runs final trip.
“Since we have a pretty young squad and we played the first match of the WPL, a historic moment really, they were slightly overwhelmed by the whole thing,” mentioned Gujarat head coach, Rachel Haynes.
However, with a captain as skilled as Harmanpreet Kaur main it and loads of different seasoned campaigners, Mumbai has seemed just like the extra balanced aspect with all its bases coated.
Injury considerations, a quest to seek out the proper mixture and an overreliance on Harleen Deol on the prime of the order have emerged as tropes for the Giants.
More typically than not, Deol has needed to shoulder the accountability of giving Gujarat a good begin. Sophia Dunkley did present her much-needed help on the prime of their match towards RCB, the place she acquired the quickest fifty of the match on her technique to a scintillating 65 off 28.
However, regardless of seeming like Gujarat had lastly fastened just a few of their points, it dropped Sophia Dunkley within the subsequent match and introduced in newly-drafted Laura Wolvaardt.
“Laura was a like-for-like replacement for Beth Mooney (ruled out due to injury) given how well she has performed at the international level recently,” mentioned Mithali Raj, Gujarat’s mentor.
While Wolvaardt was the very best run-getter within the 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup with 230 runs, sending her in a day after she joined the staff mid-way via the match, didn’t yield the outcomes the Giants maybe anticipated.
On the bowling entrance, Mumbai has reaped the advantage of scouting Bengal participant Saika Ishaque, who has been a vital wicket-taker for it and now holds the purple cap. It was Ishaque’s 4/11 that turned the speak of the city within the season opener towards Gujarat. The Giants might want to go in with a plan in place for Ishaque, because it can not afford to have its staff unravel the way in which it did attributable to her exploits.
“Sneh is fit and raring to go,” mentioned the GG staff administration in a press convention forward of the fixture. Given the duty they’ve at hand, Captain Sneh Rana and Ashleigh Gardner must carry out to their calibre with the ball to do some injury. Especially given, that Sneh was chargeable for Harmanpreet and Pooja Vastrakar’s dismissals within the final match and Gardner acquired the higher of the harmful Hayley Matthews.
“With the second round just beginning, our aim is to reach that number three position..the tournament is still wide open,” mentioned coach Haynes. The coach additionally believes that with their report at Brabourne being higher ‘the girls will go in with more confidence.’
With Gujarat hoping to claw its technique to third within the desk, in time for the playoffs, and Mumbai sitting comfortably on the prime, the match may need extra to supply than what seems at face worth.
Source: sportstar.thehindu.com