Gujarat Giants greatly improved for the second game following a devastating loss in the first match, which helped them atone for their prior performance. The Giants’ hitters did put runs on the board for the UP Warriorz to chase, but the chase was thwarted by the fast bowler Kim Garth, an Irishman, who returned great figures to destroy the Warriorz batting order.
Injured Deandra Dottin was replaced by Kim Garth in the Gujarat Giants lineup, but they had no idea that she would end up being the key to unlocking the team’s doors to success. After a lacklustre first over, she began with the new ball and struck right with the first delivery of her second over to take a flawless return catch to the bowler’s end.
She has now claimed Healy three times in seven innings as a result of Healy’s dismissal, putting the numbers on her side. The over, however, was far from over as Garth dismissed the other opener, Shweta Sehrawat, on the penultimate ball of the same over, only to follow it up with the third wicket of the over as Tahlia McGrath was caught by Dayalan Hemalatha on the very next delivery, leaving Warriorz in serious trouble and dropping them to 19/3.
After causing Warriorz to suffer an early defeat, Garth was given a respite. Kiran Navgire, of whom much was anticipated before the competition, lived up to all of it and steadily continued guiding UP’s innings to keep the hopes alive. She and Deepti Sharma shared a 46-run partnership that lasted just over nine overs before Deepti was cleanly bowled by Mansi Joshi. But things weren’t yet over for Warriorz because Navgire was still going strong after scoring a 50.
The captain reintroduced Garth into the attack to make things simpler for the Giants. She performed exactly as requested when she struck out the dangerous-looking Solapur-born batter to claim her fourth victim of the inning. Gerth didn’t appear to be content, though. She messed with Simran Shaikh’s woodwork during the very next delivery in order to catch the second fifer of the day and the first one for the Giants in the competition.
