Gujarat Giants’ batting might trumped an all-international Delhi Capitals bowling attack and made up for their own sloppy fielding to clinch a thriller and take a step closer to their maiden playoffs berth. In a stiff chase of 178, Beth Mooney, Harleen Deol and Deandra Dottin came together to pull off a stunning effort by ransacking 103 runs in the last 10 overs that helped them to a five-wicket win with three balls to spare.

By taking down the table-toppers who are already in the playoffs, Giants overtook Mumbai Indians to go second on the points table with a better NRR, although MI still have two games in hand compared to Giants’ one. Giants’ win also meant it was the end of the road for UP Warriorz, who can’t make it to the playoffs anymore. Giants and MI will now face-off in a crucial penultimate league game on March 10 in Mumbai.

The Giants chase was set up by a steady 44 from Mooney, a wonderfully-paced and unbeaten 70 off 49 from Deol and a power-packed 24 off 10 from Dottin before Kashvee Gautam stole the show when they needed 13 from seven.

The combined effort put in vain a classy 92 from 57 from Meg Lanning that was studded with 15 fours after she was gifted two lives by Giants.

Giants are not known for their power-hitters at the top of the order and they didn’t change their template even in a steep chase. They were 15 for 1 after four overs as Mooney and Deol aimed to stay steady after the early loss of D Hemalatha, whose wretched run of form continued. Mooney went over the infield consistently to collect boundaries and it was the fifth over that kicked things off for Giants. Deol got going with two fours in a 13-run over and repeated the feat in the next over when she used the pace of Annabel Sutherland to push the run rate past six as the powerplay ended.

With the asking rate at an exact ten, Giants had a mountain to climb. Mooney made Deol run hard between the wickets and when the duo collected four fours in the space of seven balls just before the halfway mark, the chase was truly alive. Capitals had their forgettable moment of fielding too when Deol, on 27, lofted Jess Jonassen down the ground and Shafali went to her right from long-off but the ball burst through her hands and let go of a chance that potentially cost them the match.

Giants were handed a big blow when Mooney found Sutherland at long-off off Minnu Mani in the 12th over, but that meant Capitals had to try and constrain Giants’ big hitters now. And they couldn’t. Gardner got off the mark with a four before smashing a glorious straight six off Marizanne Kapp that brought the equation down to 73 off 43 which soon became 66 off 36.

Deol then got a second life, on 45, when Sutherland failed to hold on to a return catch. Gardner unleashed another six, this time off a Sutherland slower ball over midwicket. Deol brought up her first WPL fifty since 2023, off 38 balls, with a boundary to point; and even though Gardner holed out for 22, Dottin and Deol smashed back-to-back sixes to make it 36 off 23. The Capitals quicks took pace off the ball, brought Jonassen back but nothing helped. Dottin smoked Jonassen for 4, 6 and 4 to different parts of the leg-side boundary that shrunk the equation to 16 off 14.

Capitals thought they had a chance when Jonassen finished the over with the wickets of Dottin and Phoebe Litchfield, before Shikha Pandey gave away just two off five balls of the 19th over, but Gautam dispatched a length ball over wide long-on. Deol followed it with a four before Gautam hit the winning runs.

Lanning and Shafali were living dangerously right from the start. If Lanning’s first scoring stroke was a thick edge off an outswinger for four in the first over, Shafali’s straight loft in the next over just beat a sprinting mid-on to fetch her a boundary too. Lanning took off after that, and even though Shafali didn’t, they brought up their 12th half century stand in the WPL, easily the most by any pair and for any wicket.

Lanning continued to pepper the boundaries on either side off the front foot as Giants continued to pitch the ball up. Shafali got a life on 15 when Tanuja Kanwar couldn’t hold on to a return catch in the sixth over despite a full-length dive. She looked a lot more confident with two sixes after the powerplay but holed out for 40 off 37 to deep midwicket where Phoebe Litchfield completed a well-judged catch.

Lanning, meanwhile, struck seven fours in the powerplay and continued to punish Giants for their lapses. There was action at the other end too – Shafali’s wicket was followed by Jonassen’s when she missed a swinging yorker from Dottin, soon after the batter had survived a stumping chance.

Just before that, Giants had also given Lanning a life when Deol almost clung to a juggling attempt after a perfectly-timed leap at mid-off at the start of the 12th over. Deol leapt straight up to intercept the ball with her right hand, attempted a left-handed grab and then even caught the ball with both hands while rotating but the ball popped out when she landed on her elbows. And as the cliché goes, Lanning rubbed salt on the wounds with a glorious inside-out six over the covers for her 34-ball fifty.

Giants’ sloppiness wasn’t done for the day though. Soon after Jemimah Rodrigues fell for 4, Lanning could have been run-out on 63 when a mix-up with Sutherland meant Lanning was terribly late on reaching the bowler’s end. But a wayward throw combined with Priya Mishra’s failed attempt to collect the ball extended Lanning’s stay.

She next punished Kanwar for two fours in the 18th over and Dottin for another pair of boundaries in the last over. Lanning was on 92 with two balls left in the innings but missed out on becoming the WPL’s first ever centurion as she was bowled by a Dottin legcutter. Sarah Bryce carved the last ball for a six that gave Capitals a total that was strong but not enough.

Brief scores:
Gujarat Giants Women 178 for 5 in 19.3 overs (Harlene Deol 70*, Beth Mooney 44, Ashleigh Gardner 22, Deandra Dottin 24; Shikha Pandey 2-31, Jess Jonassen 2-38, Minnu Mani 1-15) beat Delhi Capitals 177 for 5 in 20 overs (Meg Lanning 92, Shafali Verma 40, Annabel Sutherland 14; Deandra Dottin 2-37,Meghna Singh 3-35) by five wickets

[Cricinfo]