It was not quite a happy homecoming for UP Warriorz, who got a thrashing from Gujarat Giants at the Ekana Stadium and slipped from third to last place on the points table. In the first WPL match in Lucknow, Beth Mooney put on a batting exhibition to help Giants to 186 for 5, the third-highest total this season. She provided a reminder of why she is the No. 1-ranked T20I batter in the ICC rankings, and helped Giants vault from fifth place to second.

In reply, Warriorz went down with a whimper, losing by a massive 81 runs. They lost two wickets in the first over, four inside the powerplay and were 48 for 6 – only one batter in the top six scored in double-digits – before Chinelle Henry’s 14-ball 28 helped them cross 100. They were eventually bowled out for 105 as Giants became only the second team to successfully defend a score – the first, incidentally, being Warriorz – this season.

Mooney scored a 59-ball 96 not out and was involved in a 101-run second-wicket partnership with Harleen Deol. She hit 17 fours in her innings, the second most in an innings in the WPL.

Thanks to the mammoth win, Giants’ net run rate shot up to 0.357 from -0.450 and they are now placed only behind Delhi Capitals, their six points taking them level with Mumbai Indians, whose NRR is 0.166.

It looked like this was not Mooney’s season. Heading into the contest, she had tallied only 84 in five innings, averaging a mere 16.80. Since Giants don’t have a spare wicketkeeper in the squad, she continued to be backed. She started slow, being 23 off 21 when the powerplay ended, helped by a couple of fours in a Deepti Sharma over.

But it was after the field restrictions ended that Mooney truly came into her own. She used her feet against both Sophie Ecclestone and Deepti, and used the pace of Henry and Kranti Goud. Whenever Warriorz had mid-off and mid-on up and bowled length, she used her feet to access the area down the ground and peppered the straight boundary for 49 runs in the arc between long-on and long-off. At one point it looked like she would hit the first century of the WPL but she got to face only five balls at the death (overs 17-20) and finished unbeaten on 96.

Thanks to her middle-overs assault, Giants scored 104 runs in the 10 overs from seven to 16, only the fourth time they scored over 100 in that phase in the WPL.

Going with the trend in WPL 2025, Warriorz opted to bowl on a mixed-soil surface that had a decent covering of grass and tasted success in the opening over. Henry’s outswing had the out-of-form Dayalan Hemalatha caught behind for 2. It was her fourth single-digit score in five outings this season.

Deol, at No. 3, got going with an aerial sweep off Grace Harris over square leg. But the highlight of her innings was her footwork against the quicks. She creamed Henry through wide mid-off to end the third over and then repeated the treatment against Goud after the powerplay ended. She enjoyed the ball coming onto the bat – Phoebe Litchfield later called the Ekana the “best batting conditions” – and stroked her way to a 32-ball 45. She missed one when she made room to hit Ecclestone over the off side and was bowled, thus ending the century stand.

After a 44-run stand between Mooney and Ashleigh Gardner set Giants up for a strong finish, Deandra Dottin got going with a four off Goud in the 17th over and then hit Ecclestone for a six and a four in the next over. She attempted an ungainly reverse sweep and was trapped lbw by Ecclestone for an eight-ball 17. Warriorz closed out the innings well thereon, giving away just 16 in the last two overs, but that was not enough.

Having not played Chamari Athapaththu in all five games she was available for before leaving for national duty, Warriorz swiftly handed a debut to Georgia Voll, the replacement. Voll had found massive success while opening in the WBBL but Warriorz persisted with Kiran Navgire and Harris as their openers with Voll at No. 3.

Navgire poked at an outswinger from Dottin without moving her feet and was caught by a diving Litchfield at slip for a golden duck on the second ball of the chase. Three balls later, Voll went for a wild drive away from the body, only for the ball to swerve in and hit the top of middle. And just like that, Dottin had put Giants on course for a win.

From the other end, Kashvee Gautam found massive swing and success, after Vrinda Dinesh shaped to scoop but was beaten by the inward curve. Deepti, who later said they felt the target was chaseable, also fell cheaply, nicking Meghna Singh behind. Harris kept running out of partners before missing the scoop off Tanuja Kanwar and Warriorz were 48 for 6 at the halfway mark.

Henry struck a few lusty blows down the order and was one of only four Warriorz batters to enter double digits. But it was largely a flutter before the fire extinguished.

Gujarat Giants Women 186 for 5 in 20 overs (Beth Mooney 96*, Harlene Deol 45, Ashleigh Gardner 11, Deandra Dottin 17; Sophie Ecclestone 2-34, Chinell Henry 1-31, Deepti Sharma 1-37, Kranti Goud 1-46) beat UP Warriorz Women 105 in 17.1 overs  (Chinell Henry 28, Grace Harris 25, Uma Chetry 17, Sophie Ecclestone 14; Kashvee  Gautam 3-11, Tanuja Kanwar 3-17, Deandra Dottin 2-14, Meghna Singh 1-28, Ashleigh Gardner 1-09  ) by 81 runs