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Ashleigh Gardner leads with example; overtakes Beth Mooney for most WPL fifties for Gujarat Giants

Mayank

Ashleigh Gardner scored 65(41) vs UPW [Source: Akshatgoel1408/X.com]Ashleigh Gardner scored 65(41) vs UPW [Source: Akshatgoel1408/X.com]

Gujarat Giants captain and star batter Ashleigh Gardner looked in supreme touch in their opening fixture of the season, as they took on UP Warriorz at the DY Patil stadium in Navi Mumbai on Saturday afternoon of the double-header.

Upon being put in to bat by Meg Lanning and co. after losing the toss, the Giants lost opener Beth Mooney cheaply at 13(12), soon followed by Sophie Devine after a well made 38(20). Captain Ash Gardner then took responsibility to build a 103-run stand with Anushka Sharma. Anushka scored a quick 44(30) with 7 fours, but the star of the innings was Gardner, who got 65(41) with six fours and three towering sixes.

Her fifty in the first game itself got his into the history books, toppling her Australian teammate for that record as a GG player. Check out the stat below.

Gardner's fifty puts her ahead of Mooney.

Courtesy of the scintillating knock, where Ash Gardner also took on Asha Shobhana with consecutive sixes in the 14th over to put her team in the driver's seat, she got to her sixth WPL fifty. This is the most by any Giants star throughout the course of Women's Premier League history. Below is GG's top-5.

1. Ashleigh Gardner- 6 fifties in 26 innings

2. Beth Mooney - 5 fifties in 19 innings

3. Laura Wovaardt - 3 fifties in 13 innings

4. Harleen Deol - 2 fifties in 20 innings

5. Dayalan Hemalatha - 2 fifties in 21 innings

To go along with this fifties record, the 28-year-old Aussie all-rounder is also their leading run-scorer with 632 runs at an impressive strike rate of 143.31 and also tops the bowling charts for them with 25 scalps in 25 innings.

Giants eye two points vs Warriorz

At the time of writing, the Gujarat based team is well placed to take their first two points of the season, with 207/4 on the board in 20 overs. Following Gardner's dismissal, another Australian star, Georgia Wareham, scored a quick-fire 27* (10) with a four and three sixes before Bharti Fulmali finished the innings with two sixes for an unbeaten 14 off 7.

On the other hand, the left-arm orthodox spinner Sopie Ecclestone was UPW's pick of the bowlers with 2/32 to her name. Shikha Pandey finished with 1/29 from her 3 overs, while the former Giants player Deandra Dottin was taken to the cleaners by her former team, as she conceded 47 off her quota of 4 overs, picking a solitary wicket of the set Anushka.

World Cup winner Renuka Singh Thakur also started the second innings in style with an early dismissal of Kiran Navgire for 1 off 4 in the first over. With 19 overs left, UP needs 205 runs to start the season with 2 points.