After a successful kickstart on the opening day, the second match of the ongoing Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2026 saw another brilliant battle between Gujarat Giants and UP Warriorz women’s teams. On Saturday, January 10, GG Women defeated UP Warriorz by 10 runs and are now the table toppers of the points rankings. Georgia Wareham was declared Player of the Match for her all-rounder run.
After losing the toss, GG Women started the innings with the bat and gave a strong start to the team. Openers Beth Mooney (13 off 12) and Sophie Devine (38 runs off 20 balls) led the innings to a decent start, adding 51 runs on the scoreboard. The momentum was then continued by Anushka Sharma, who scored 44 runs off 30 balls. Meanwhile, captain Ashleigh Gardner added 65 runs in 41 balls. Georgia and Bharti Fulmali remained unbeaten batters, scoring 27 and 14 runs respectively. Sophie Ecclestone picked two wickets, while Shikha Pandey and Deandra Dottin got one each for UP Warriorz.
For UP Warriorz, the second innings were a bit of a struggle. After losing their opener in one run, captain Meg Lanning somehow got 30 runs on the scoreboard. Phoebe Litchfield contributed massively, scoring 78 runs off 40 balls. Middle-order batters Harleen Deol and Deepti Sharma were out immediately, but the lower order added came close to achieving the target. Shweta Sherawat scored 25 runs off 17 balls, Dottin added 12 runs in nine balls, and Ecclestone secured 11 runs off 8 balls. Asha Shobhana finished with an undefeated 27 runs, while Shikha Pandey got one run on the score.
GG Women bowlers were successful in restricting the UP Warriorz Women’s team, ending their innings at 197/8. Renuka Singh, Devine, and Wareham picked two wickets each, while Gardner and Rajeshwari Gayakwad claimed one each.
GG Women’s captain on the win
Winning captain Gardner, in the post-match interview, shared her inputs and the details on the teamwork performed by Gujarat and what led to the victory against UP Warriorz.
She said, “It was a fantastic game for everyone who came out and watched. Knew we needed more than 200. Plenty of learnings with bat and ball. Fielded well and that was probably the difference. Anushka Sharma is such a talent. To spend time out in the middle…she keeps it simple and for a young player, to be brave enough to do that, amazing to be at the other end.”
“We were searching for overs a bit. I didn’t bowl overly well. I can throw the ball to anyone. As a captain and bowler, it gets difficult to set fields. We had to take lots of wickets, which we did and nice we have a W on the board,” she also added.
Gujarat Giants WPL 2026 Squad
Ashleigh Gardner, Beth Mooney, Sophie Devine, Renuka Singh Thakur, Bharti Fulmali, Titas Sadhu, Kashee Gautam, Kanika Ahuja, Tanuja Kanwer, Georgia Wareham, Anushka Sharma, Happy Kumari, Kim Garth, Yastika Bhatia, Shivani Singh, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Ayushi Soni
UP Warriorz WPL 2026 Squad
Shweta Sehrawat, Deepti Sharma, Sophie Ecclestone, Meg Lanning, Phoebe Litchfield, Kiran Navgire, Harleen Deol, Kranti Goud, Asha Sobhana, Deandra Dottin, Shikha Pandey, Shipra Giri, Simran Shaikh, Charli Knott, Chloe Tryon, Suman Meena, G. Trisha, Pratika Rawal
