In Lucknow’s WPL debut, UP Warriorz opted to bowl first after winning the toss against Gujarat Giants at Ekana Stadium, their home ground. The Warriorz, currently third, made changes, with Georgia Voll replacing Chamari Athapaththu and Gouher Sultana coming in for Saima Thakor. Gujarat Giants, at the bottom, retained their unchanged lineup after a recent victory. The pitch featured a mixed-soil surface with short square boundaries measuring 50 and 59 meters, and a straight distance of 66 meters. The lineups included notable players like Deepti Sharma for the Warriorz and Ash Gardner for the Giants.
Toss UP Warriorz opted to bowl against Gujarat Giants
The coin toss favored Deepti Sharma in Lucknow’s WPL debut, and the UP Warriorz had no hesitation in choosing to bowl first against the Gujarat Giants. This marks the first game held at Ekana Stadium for this competition and serves as the official home ground for the Warriorz.
The Giants, sitting at the bottom of the standings, made no changes, maintaining faith in a team that triumphed over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their previous match.
The pitch at Ekana Stadium featured a slight layer of grass and was of a mixed-soil type. One of the square boundaries, as noted by Natalie Germanos during the pitch report, was “rather deliciously short” at 50 meters, while the other measured 59 meters. The straight boundary was also shorter compared to those in Bengaluru and Vadodara, at 66 meters.
UP Warriorz: 1 Kiran Navgire, 2 Georgia Voll, 3 Vrinda Dinesh, 4 Deepti Sharma (capt), 5 Shweta Sehrawat, 6 Grace Harris, 7 Uma Chetry (wk), 8 Chinelle Henry, 9 Sophie Ecclestone, 10 Kranti Goud, 11 Gouher Sultana
Gujarat Giants: 1 Beth Mooney (wk), 2 D Hemalatha, 3 Harleen Deol, 4 Ash Gardner (capt), 5 Phoebe Litchfield, 6 Deandra Dottin, 7 Kashvee Gautam, 8 Bharti Fulmali, 9 Tanuja Kanwar, 10 Meghna Singh, 11 Priya Mishra