The Gujarat Giants, at present, find themselves in a position where they just don’t know how to win WPL matches. In each of the three matches that they have played so far, they have batted first and in each of them, they have not been able to put up a score that would challenge the opposition.
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At the auction, GG acquired the services of Phoebe Litchfield, billed as the next superstar of the women’s game and someone who could lend international experience to the middle-order.
Yet, three matches into the tournament she has a mere 47 runs to her name, 35 of which came against UP Warriorz on Friday. The blame for the inefficient batting, however, should not just be on Litchfield.
Each of the other four teams in the competition have one explosive batter opening the batting to try and make the most of the field restrictions. GG skipper Beth Mooney has tried three different opening partners and while Laura Wolvaardt showed a glimpse of what she could do against the new ball on Friday, it still wasn’t enough for GG to lay a foundation for the middle-order to build on.
“The opening pair is a bit more about the balance of the team as well. We obviously went with four overseas batters today and I think we were pretty close to clicking. I thought we started pretty well with our top-order and then we had a lean patch. We are not too far from batting clicking, it is just a matter of staying confident. We want them to back themselves a little bit, we are probably playing within ourselves as batting group,” head coach Michael Klinger told the press after the loss on Friday.
A key differential aspect of GG that they lack as compared to some of the other teams in the competition is the lack of quality Indian batting in the middle-order. The likes of Dayalan Hemalatha have found the going tough and have not been able to rise up to the occasion and deliver the goods for the side, which has ensured there has been a lot more pressure on Ashleigh Gardener than what she would desire.
Mooney also rued the fact that none of the GG batters had been able to bat long and deep into the innings, which might have had an impact on the eventual total.
“We have seen in the other teams, if we have a set batter, you can score 10s and 11s in the back end, that’s a goal for us, someone who can score a 50 or a 60 and bat deep. We have got some very good players in our team and we have got to stick to them,” Mooney said at the post-match presentation.
If the batting has failed to stand up and be counted, the bowling has been below-par, to say the least, particularly the fast bowlers who have not offered any penetration or control for Mooney to feel settled and stay confident of making inroads in the opposition batting line-up.
GG tried to use the experience of Lea Tahuhu paired with Meghana Singh, but had to drop the former to bolster their batting. Sneh Rana has failed to get the bite off the surfaces that she would have desired and hence, the wickets column does not look as good as it should.
The only bright spark for GG has been the bowling of Tanuja Kanwer, who has offered the side some level of control and also taken key wickets as and when there has been a need for the franchise.
The Bengaluru leg of the tournament for GG ends on Sunday with a high-confidence Delhi Capitals side, who are nearer to the top of the table. If the franchise needs to get somewhere close to there, they will need to get their act together, sooner rather than later. The starting point for that could be on Sunday.
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