WPL 2025: UP Warriorz Women vs Gujarat Giants Women, Match 15 - Who Said What?

Gujarat Giants registered a convincing 81-run win in match No. 15 of the ongoing Women's Premier League (WPL) 2025 at the BRSABV Ekana Cricket Stadium on Monday, March 3.

Opting to bowl first, UP Warriorz got off to a fantastic start as Chinelle Henry dismissed Dayalan Hemalatha in the first over. However, Beth Mooney and Harleen Deol's 101-run partnership for the second wicket put Gujarat in a fantastic position. Mooney remained unbeaten on 96 off 59 balls as Gujarat posted a formidable total of 186/5 in 20 overs.

In reply, the Warriorz lost two wickets in their first over and never really recovered. Grace Harris and Chinelle Henry adopted different approaches to delay the inevitable before Gujarat registered a comprehensive win to move to No. 2 in the points table.

Talking Points

3. Deandra Dottin strikes twice in first over to put Warriorz on the back foot

Deandra Dottin struck off her second and fifth deliveries to dismiss Kiran Navgire and Georgia Voll in the first over of UP's innings. The West Indies all-rounder conceded just two runs in that over, giving Gujarat just the start they were looking for. The Barbados-born conceded just 14 runs in her three overs and finished with two wickets.

Also Read - Video of the Day: Deandra Dottin's first over double strike derails UP Warriorz chase

2. Kashvee Gautam and Tanuja Kanwar bag three-fors

Kashvee Gautam shared the new ball with Dottin and bowled superbly. She picked up the wicket of Vrinda Dinesh with the first ball of her second over. Gautam returned to bowl the 17th over in which she picked up the wickets of Uma Chetry and Gouher Sultana off consecutive deliveries. Gautam finished with excellent figures of 3/11 in three overs. Left-arm spinner Tanuja Kanwar also bowled well, picking up the wickets of Harris, Henry, and Sophie Ecclestone. Kanwar's 3.1 overs yielded three wickets at the expense of 17 runs.

1. Beth Mooney falls four runs short of becoming the first-ever centurion in WPL

Beth Mooney played a stunning knock, carrying her bat for Gujarat. Her unbeaten knock of 96 off 59 balls was laced with 17 exquisite fours. She also ran hard between the wickets, exhibiting excellent fitness standards in warm conditions. Mooney was fittingly adjudged Player of the Match as her innings helped Gujarat post an above-par total.

Who Said What?

Ashleigh Gardner, Gujarat Giants' Winning Skipper, said

The game was set up brilliantly by Beth Mooney with the fantastic 96. There was a part where she didn't get to those triple figures, but the partnership that she had with Harleen really set up the game and then allowed someone like D-Dog [Dottin] to come in and score some quick runs. We had plenty of runs on the board and then our bowlers did a fantastic job again. There's always things that you can probably improve on, but I think in the last five overs you probably want to limit dot balls. We probably had a few there, whether it was not giving Moons [Mooney] a strike or things like that. When you're a new batter, it's really hard to go for more ones. So maybe it was just a matter of trying to get her a strike and then if you've got more to go, make sure that you stick to your strengths, which I think people did today. There were some fantastic shots, but if anything, that was probably the really nitpicky thing, but I think we did a lot of things right tonight.

We need to have a strong start with the ball. I mean, those types of runs are always good because you know that the other team has to go hard for a ball one. But yeah, I spoke to the team at the halfway point and said that we still need to obviously bowl well, take our chances, and it was only half a job done. So making sure that we still executed our plans, and I think we obviously set the tone really early. Deandra, doing what she does best. She's super skilful at being able to swing the ball both ways. A serious skill, and then casually doing what she does best as well. It's fantastic to see young players stepping up on the big stage. We've been so close this year in so many games where that first game, we always reflect on that, that could have went either way. And then we've played some really good cricket in between now and then, and being able to reset before each game is something that we have spoken a lot about. Making sure that each day is a different day, and each opponent, we obviously plan properly and things like that. [Playing against Delhi Capitals next] We know that it's going to be another tough match. They're all tough matches from here on in, and hopefully we can keep that winning way going.

Deepti Sharma, UP Warriorz' Losing Skipper, said

It was a chaseable target and the outfield was pretty good. We lost back to back wickets and couldn't chase it down. Our top 4-5 needs to take initiative and we repeated the mistakes from the last game. Hope we don't repeat it in the coming games. The wicket looked good in the first innings and we wanted to build partnerships. We thought we could chase it down if one batter had batted through. Our middle order needs to improve, we can't only rely on our bowlers. Our batters need to step up, including myself.

Beth Mooney, Player of the Match (96*off 59, two catches), said

The way we started with the bat, obviously Harleen and I have had a really good partnership, set us up beautifully. And then, you know, had some good impetus from Deandra and Ash and Phoebe through the middle. So, that's probably a nice blueprint and hopefully we'll change the trend and some teams will start batting first. Probably during the game. I've probably faced a lot of their bowlers in international cricket and in the WPL, so I sort of understood what their play is going to be and they just gave a few people down the ground today, which is nice. I haven't had a lot of them this morning, but I think the thing about batting first is you've got to sum up the conditions pretty quickly and work out what's going to work for you within your own game plan. So, I thought Harleen, does that beautifully and brought us off to a great start.

I think we're really lucky in this team. We've got a couple of left-handers in the top order, so having left and rights throughout the innings really helps, especially when there's a few different types of spinners in the opposing team. So, it certainly helps when I can help out the right-handers and face a bit of left-arm spin and they can face a few of the right-arm off-breaks for me. So, I think that's just the great thing about playing in the WPL and in these tournaments, is you get to learn about lots of different players from around the world and what makes them tick and help them out along the way. [On Mooney asking Deol to run hard] Yes, that's right. No resting at the non-strikers when I'm out there batting, so hopefully she can get that for a couple of my twos next game.