Harleen Deol stars as Giants ace tricky chase

Harleen Deol led the way with an unbeaten 49-ball 70 as Gujarat Giants overhauled Delhi Capitals' 177 in a thrilling finish at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow. The victory, achieved with three balls to spare, snapped Capitals' three-game winning run and also propelled the Giants to second place in the points table.

In a contest that swung one way and then the other throughout the course of its run time, the Giants won a crucial toss and had a string of power hitters to rely on to chase 10 an over ever since the PowerPlay ended while Deol held the other end together. Even with the advantage of chasing with the dew severely hampering bowling plans, the Giants allowed the equation to get rather complicated as they managed only 38 runs in the PowerPlay. At one stage, the pair of Deol and Beth Mooney were going at barely over a run-a-ball, despite both having faced more than 15 deliveries each.

The chase got much-needed momentum in the ninth over bowled by Annabel Sutherland as Mooney hit a couple of fours before Deol chipped in with one of her own to make it a 15-run over. Even so, the Giants' victory push would have had a very different complexion had Capitals converted some of their half chances. Deol was reprieved on 27 when Shafali Verma put down a catch at long-off. When on 34, she survived once more as Titas Sadhu missed a direct hit. When Sutherland later put down a reflex caught and bowled chance on her follow through, the omens were against the usually unflappable Capitals.

As it turned out, the Giants found just the right injection of momentum from the other, starting with Ashleigh Gardner's 22 off 13, which included sixes off Marizanne Kapp and Sutherland.

Having brought the equation down to 55 from the final five overs, Gardner fell after hitting a friendly short ball from Shikha Pandey straight to deep square leg. But Deandra Dottin took over by slamming the second ball she faced for six. She then played a troika of slog sweeps against Jess Jonassen in the 18th over to pick up four, six and four before falling to a terrific diving catch from Jemimah Rodrigues for a 10-ball 24 while attempting an encore.

In a game that appeared to have been decided at this stage, there was another twist as Phoebe Litchfield chipped a simple catch to long-on with the first ball she faced. Giants needed only 16 from 12 at the stage but Shikha Pandey brought that equation to 13 off 7 before Kashvee Gautam produced arguably the most important shot when she slogged the last ball of the penultimate over for a six. Harleen found a boundary against the first ball of the final over to effectively close out the chase.

Earlier in the evening, there was a familiar beat to the early exchanges as the prolific and pacy pair of Lanning and Shafali Verma set about giving DC the best shot at a dew-proof score. The feature of their 83-run opening partnership was how both the batters drove through the line, through and over the ring fielders. After two overs, the Capitals had 26 on the board with the two batters out to create personal highlight reels. If Lanning found three fours off Deandra Dottin, Verma responded with a pair of fours and a six over long off against Kashvee Gautam.

The pair struck eight fours and a six in the PowerPlay but there was a little win for the Giants as the introduction of left-arm spinner Tanuja Kanwar at least dried up the scoring from one end. Kanwar gave away just 10 runs in her first two overs but the Capitals still had 51 after six overs - the fifth time they'd passed 50 during the fielding restrictions in this WPL 2025.

It was also Lanning and Verma's 12th 50+ stand in this competition, with the next best pair seven behind. There was no letup in the scoring rate even when more fielders hugged the boundary ropes. Lanning bisected the off-side ring against Meghna Singh for a four while Verma held her shape in a lofted drive over extra cover for six. Verma hit another six over long-off against Ash Gardner before she fell chasing her 50th six in the tournament's history for a 27-ball 40 after miscuing a slower ball from Meghna.

The Giants hit back with a pair of quiet overs and nearly had Lanning in the 11th over when Harleen Deol almost pulled off a sensational catch only for the ball to pop out after her elbows made contact with the turf. Lanning carried on and completed a 35-ball half-century with a six. At the other end, the in-form Jess Jonassen survived a missed stumping chance but couldn't cash in as Dottin bowled her early in the 13th over.

Giants did well to not allow the opposition to carry any momentum into the death overs as they prized out Jemimah Rodrigues and Annabel Sutherland rather cheaply. Lanning was still on hand to give the flourish the innings needed and even threatened to become the first WPL centurion before she was bowled for 92 with two balls to go in the innings. She had struck a staggering 15 fours to go with a solitary six, but it wasn't enough on the night.

Brief scores: Delhi Capitals 177/5 in 20 overs (Meg Lanning 92, Shafali Verma 40; Meghna Singh 3-35) lost to Gujarat Giants 178/5 in 19.3 overs (Harleen Deol 70*, Deandra Dottin 24; Shikha Pandey 2-31) by five wickets