WPL 2026: Gardner,Anushkaand Wareham script exciting win for Gujarat Giants

The Women’s Premier League is a quirky tournament. The competition tries hard to get the creme de la creme of overseas talent, but is never happy when they are the ones outshining the local stars season after season.

However, Gujarat Giants’ clinical 10-run victory over UP Warriorz at the D.Y. Patil Stadium on Saturday, despite being headlined by the exploits of the foreign talent pool on both sides, will perhaps be remembered best for the audacity of two young Indians – Anushka Sharma and Shweta Sehrawat.

Put in to bat, the Giants’ openers, Beth Mooney and Sophie Devine, got off to a flying start with 40 runs scored in the first four overs.

After a 14-run smacking in her first, Shikha Pandey had the last laugh when she saw off Devine. Sophie Ecclestone soon sent Mooney back to draw debutant Anushka to the hot seat.

Batting with ease

The Madhya Pradesh batter brushed pressure off effortlessly as she found the boundary with elan, giving her partner Ashleigh Gardner the confidence to free her arms. A 103-run partnership left Lanning with aggressively pursed lips, looking for ways to find wickets.

Georgia Wareham, who has been in blazing form in the Women’s Big Bash, then sent the ball flying to the stands in the death. Bharti Fulmali chipped in with two big sixes to take the Giants to its biggest total in the tournament’s history.

One would have thought a cakewalk was to follow for a lineup that featured Lanning, Phoebe Litchfield and Deandra Dottin, but it was anything but that. Kiran Navgire’s early dismissal sent Lanning into a shell.

Wareham struck twice in the ninth over, first breaking the Lanning-Litchfield pairing and then removing Harleen Deol.

An unfazed Litchfield persevered, finding support in new keeper-batter Shweta Sehrawat who replicated her big hits from the nets to wipe the smile off Gardner’s face. Dottin, Sophie Ecclestone and Asha Sobhana too chipped away desperately at the target, but the shaky start left them short of time to push for a win, ending the Giants’ dubious streak of losses in all of their season openers so far.