Kaur heroics not enough as Gujarat beat Mumbai to progress in WPL

A heroic half-century from Mumbai Indians captain Harmanpreet Kaur was not enough to save her side as the Gujarat Giants clinched an 11-run win at the Kotambi Stadium in Vadodara on Friday night, to secure their place in the Women’s Premier League eliminator on Tuesday.

Harmanpreet Kaur is leading the charge of this MI team once more. She is used to doing this more often than not, nothing new.

She has a job in her hand & she is going all guns blazing. She is just next level batter under pressure, there is no one better than her, absolute… pic.twitter.com/cO5eEjnP5t — Akshat (@Akshatgoel1408) January 30, 2026

It was an important match for both teams, with the Giants knowing a win would get them into the eliminator, while Mumbai would still have a chance, with them currently third on the log, but the loss has opened the door for the Delhi Capitals to jump ahead of them with a win on Sunday.

It was also Gujarat’s first WPL win over defending champions Mumbai, at the ninth time of asking, breaking a duck of eight straight losses over the last four editions of the tournament.

The match was a back-and-forth affair, and in the end, it was the steady performances of the Giants' batters that earned them enough runs to defend against Mumbai.

Batting first, the Giants managed 167 for four in their 20 overs, thanks to captain Ash Gardner, 46 off 28 balls (7x4; 1x6), all-round Georgia Wareham, 44 off 26 (4x4; 2x6), Anushka Sharma, 33 off 31 (4x4; 1x6), and Sophie Devine, 25 off 21 (3x4).

KAUR LACKING SUPPORT

Amelia Kerr, 2-26 and Shabnim Ismail, 1-29, were the top performers on the bowling front for Mumbai.

The defending champs' chase was then led by Kaur, as she blitzed 82 off 48 balls (8x4; 4x6). She didn’t have enough support, as Sajeevan Sajana (26), Kerr (20), and Amanjot Kaur (13) were the only other batters to get into double figures.

Devine led the Giants' bowling effort with 2-23 in her four overs and was backed up really well by Wareham, who picked up 2-26.

The Mumbai chase got off to a poor start with three early wickets, including opener Sajana, as they slipped to 37 for three in the seventh over.

That brought Kerr in to join Kaur, and they started a fight back with a 45-run fourth wicket stand, before Wareham struck, having Kerr caught behind by keeper Beth Mooney in the 12th over as they slipped to 82 for four.

Kaur found another willing partner in her namesake, Amanjot, and they added a further 44 runs to the total before Rajeshwari Gayakwad made the breakthrough, having Amanjot stumped by Mooney.

Two balls later, Wareham trapped Sanskriti Gupta LBW for a first-ball duck, and that left Mumbai on 127 for five early in the 18th over, needing a steep 41 to win off the last 16 balls.

But Kaur didn’t give up and took it to the last over, where she launched Gardner for two sixes, but still fell well short in the end.

SOLID PARTNERSHIPS

The Giants' innings was built around two good partnerships, after the early wicket of Mooney (5) left them on 21 for one in the third over.

Devine and Sharma combined for a 48-run second-wicket partnership to set the platform, but both fell in quick succession around the midway mark.

Sharma was caught by Ismail off Kerr towards long on in the 10th over, followed four balls later by Devine at the start of the 11th, Kerr this time doing the catching at deep midwicket off the bowling of Nat Sciver-Brunt, as the Giants slipped to 71 for three.

But that brought Gardner and Wareham together and they shared in a match-defining stand of 71 to get their side near the 150 mark when Gardner was stumped by Rahila Firdous off the bowling of Kerr, to leave them on 142 for four in the 18th over.

It was then up to Wareham to dominate an unbeaten 25-run partnership with Bharti Fulmali (5no) to get them to what proved to be a defendable total in the end.

Mumbai will now be watching the final pool match between Delhi Capitals and the UP Warriorz on Sunday nervously, knowing a win for the Capitals will see the Delhi team progress, and a loss will likely be enough to secure the Mumbai side a spot in the eliminator, thanks to their superior net run rate.

The winner of next Tuesday’s eliminator will then go on to face the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in next Thursday’s final, after the Bengaluru outfit earned their spot in the trophy game by securing top spot on the log.

MUMBAI INDIANS: Hayley Matthews, Sajeevan Sajana, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Amanjot Kaur, Amelia Kerr, Rahila Firdous (wk), Sanskriti Gupta, Poonam Khemnar, Shabnim Ismail, Vaishnavi Sharma

GUJARAT GIANTS: Beth Mooney (wk), Sophie Devine, Anushka Sharma, Ashleigh Gardner (capt), Georgia Wareham, Bharti Fulmali, Kanika Ahuja, Kashvee Gautam, Tanuja Kanwar, Renuka Singh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad