An impressive bowling performance followed by captain Ashleigh Gardner’s fifty helped Gujarat Giants beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by six wickets at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday, February 27.Electing to bowl first, Gujarat Giants’ Tanuja Kanwer and Deandra Dottin bagged two wickets each to restrict defending champions RCB to 125/7 in their allotted overs. In reply, captain Ashleigh Gardner slammed 58 off just 31 balls to power the Giants to a comprehensive win in Bengaluru.Earlier, the Giants got off to an impressive start as star all-rounder Dottin trapped Danielle Wyatt-Hodge (4) in front of the stumps in the first over of the game.GG skipper Gardner soon joined the party as she bagged the massive wicket of Ellyse Perry (0).The Giants continued to pick up early wickets as left-arm spinner Tanuja Kanwar dismissed opposition captain Smriti Mandhana (10) to reduce RCB to 25/3 in the sixth over.RCB duo of Raghvi Bist and Kanika Ahuja added 48 runs for the fourth wicket before Bist (22) perished after a run-out.Later in the 13th over, Tanuja Kanwer claimed her second wicket of the match as she removed Kanika Ahuja (33).Meanwhile, young pacer Kashvee Gautam continued her brilliant spell as she cleaned up RCB wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh (9).Dottin then dismissed Kim Garth in the final over to help the Giants restrict RCB to 125/7 in their 20 overs.Chasing 126, openers Beth Mooney and Dayalan Hemalatha got the Giants off to a decent start. The duo added 25 runs for the opening wicket before Hemalatha fell for 11.The Giants soon suffered another huge blow as wicketkeeper-batter Mooney departed for 17 in the seventh over.Gardner later joined Harleen Deol at the crease. The Giants’ skipper played a counter-attacking knock to put the pressure back on the bowlers.Despite losing Harleen in the 10th over, Gardner continued to hit some eye-catching shots and later notched up her fifth fifty for the Giants in the WPL. The Giants’ captain was later dismissed for 58, which included six fours and three sixes.At the other end, Phoebe Litchfield later remained unbeaten on 30 to guide the Giants to their second win in WPL 2025.The Giants will be looking to continue the winning momentum when they face UP Warriorz in their upcoming WPL 2025 fixture at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Monday, March 3. Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bengaluru 125/7 in 20 overs (Kanika Ahuja 33; Tanuja Kanwer 2/16) lost to Gujarat Giants 126/4 in 16.3 overs (Ashleigh Gardner 58; Renuka Singh 2/24) by 6 wickets.
