Follow UsAshleigh Gardner had lit up the new Baroda Cricket Association Stadium in the season opener of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) against the defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCb) by hitting a scintillating 79* off just 37 deliveries. It helped the Giants reach a total of 201 in their full quota of 20 overs.
RCB had a challenging chase and needed openers Smriti Mandhana and Danni Wyatt-Hodge to give them a flying start.
However, after scoring 13 runs in the first over, Mandhana was dismissed on the second ball of the second over, and her nemesis Gardner’s off-spin proved to be the reason for her fall.
Gardner just kept it simple and bowled a flat delivery on a good length around off stump, and it came into the left-handed Mandhana with the angle. However, RCB’s skipper had already gone on the backfoot on a delivery that didn’t need it, and was pinned in the front trying to flick the ball towards the leg side.
The on-field umpire had no issues in giving that out. However, Mandhana consulted Wyatt-Hodge and sent it upstairs, only for the original decision to be upheld.
This was a classic Mandhana LBW dismissal against Gardner, who has troubled her through the years. This was the ninth time the Australian off-spinner dismissed Mandhana in T20s, which is the most for any bowler.
Gardner then cleaned up Wyatt-Hodge in the same over as well, as the English batter tried to slog a delivery that crashed into her stumps.
This was the second time that Gardner scored a fifty and took two or more wickets in the same WPL game. Earlier, she had achieved this feat against the Delhi Capitals in Mumbai during the inaugural season.