Mumbai, March 6: In what was the first nail-biting encounter in the Women's Premier League (WPL) 2023, UP Warriorz registered a sensational win over Gujarat Giants on Sunday (March 5) at the DY Patil Stadium.
It was a blitzkrieg of Australian batter Grace Harris which helped UP Warriorz cruise to a memorable three-wicket win over Gujarat Giants.
Chasing 170, the Warriorz were struggling at 105 for 7 in the 16th over. However, Harris' scintillating 26-ball 59* (7x4, 3x6) helped UP register their first win and the tournament's first successful chase.
WPL 2023: Grace Harris slams 59 off 26 as UP Warriorz stun Gujarat Giants in last-over thriller
Harris was ably supported by Kiran Navgire who scored 53 off 43 balls (5x4, 2x6) and Sophie Ecclestone who remained unbeaten, and scored a quickfire 22 off 12 balls.
Lauding Harris' knock, former India cricketer Pragyan Ojha, a WPL expert for Sports18 and JioCinema, claimed Harris analysed the situation very well.
"There was grace in her batting. Full points to her for the way she analysed the situation. She knew there was dew at play and it wouldn't be easy for the bowlers to consistently hit the right lengths and the batters could take advantage of that," said Ojha in his post-match analysis.
Ojha also praised senior India all-rounder Deepti Sharma, who had a good day with the ball, and returned with figures of 4/27 for Warriorz.
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"Deepti Sharma has an amazing track record with over 200 wickets in T20 cricket. She is an experienced campaigner with both bat and ball. It wasn't a great day with the bat today but whenever any captain hands over the ball to her, they expect her to deliver a breakthrough and she does that," added Ojha.
UP Warriorz captain Alyssa Healy also spoke highly of her compatriot Harris. "Grace is grace. I think that is the only way you can describe her. She genuinely got belief in her ability to strike the ball the way she did tonight. She showed India and the world exactly what she can do and got us from a position of nowhere near of winning the game to getting us over the line," said Healy in the post-match presentation.
Royal Challengers Bangalore will take on Mumbai Indians today at 7:30 pm, live on JioCinema, Sports18 - 1, Sports18 Khel, Colors Kannada Cinema and Colors Tamil