MUMBAI: UP Warroirz’s Grace Harris once again set the stage on fire with 72 off 41 balls, with her heavy-duty hitting, as the team defeated Gujarat Giants for the second time a row by 3 wickets with just one delivery to secure a place in the playoffs of the inaugural season here on mARCH 20.
Following the win, Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals and UP Warriors have made the grade, while Gujarat Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore have been eliminated from the tournament.Grace smashed the Giants attack to smithereens, hitting seven fours and four maximums in the chase of the Giants’ 178/6.
When she departed at 172, caught by Kim Garth of Harleen Deol, there were still seven runs to be scored for victory. There were a few nervous moments when Simran Shaikh departed and it became 177/7 for the Warriorz. Two runs of the lest two deliveries can always be a tricky, but Sophie Ecclestone swept a Sneh Rana delivery to a boundary to signal the win with just one ball to spare. Grace was involved in two productive partnerships, with countrymate Tahlia McGrath (57) and Sophie Ecclestone (19 not out).
While Graces’ stand with McGrath was worth 78 runs, with Sophie it brought 42 runs and it insured an easy passage into the knockouts with just one balls to spare.The partnership between Grace and Tahlia had laid a solid foundation and the former continued even after her country-mate departed at 117/4 to flick the ball only to get a feather touch which flew to the keeper. Earlier, a brilliant 93-run partnership between Dayalan Hemalatha (57 off 33 balls) and the second costliest player Ashleigh Gardner (60 off 39 balls) helped Gujarat Giants post 178/6 in their do-or-die clash.
The authority and attacking ways with which the duo played indicated they were on a mission, given the do-or-die nature of the contest as the tournament enters its business end.By the time the partnership ended, with Hemalatha dismissed by Parshavi Chopra in the 17th over with the team total on 143, the stand had put the team on course for a competitive total.
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