3 things that went wrong for Gujarat Giants in WPL 2023
The Gujarat Giants (GG) haven't had a great run in the inaugural season of the Women's Premier League (WPL). The Giants, along with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), have been knocked out of the tournament.
GG won just two games out of their share of eight, managing to put up only 4 points on the board.
The Giants, led by stand0in skipper Sneh Rana in the absence of Beth Mooney, managed to get the better of the two best teams in the tournament, Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals. But that's about it for them as far as the happy memories are concerned.
Here, we look at three things that went wrong for the franchise and eventually hindered their progress in WPL 2023.
#1 Gujarat Giants skipper Beth Mooney's injury
Gujarat Giants' misery in WPL 2023 started right from the first game as they were dealt a huge blow in the form of skipper Beth Mooney's injury.
Mooney was subsequently ruled out of the tournament due to a calf injury and the Giants thoroughly missed her experience at the top of the order.
#2 Ashleigh Gardner's inconsistent showings
Gujarat Giants would have hoped for a better performance from their costliest acquisition Ashleigh Gardner.
The Aussie all-rounder scored 204 runs in the tournament at an average of 29.14 but was largely inconsistent. In the absence of Mooney, the Giants needed her to step up on a regular basis, but that did not happen.
With the ball, she picked up 10 wickets over the course of the tournament but was quite expensive, conceding runs at a rate of 9.21 runs per over. Gardner's sub-par performances have hurt the Giants big time in WPL 2023.
#3 Sneh Rana's captaincy
Ahead of the season, the Gujarat Giants named Sneh Rana as Mooney's deputy. They were perhaps looking to groom Rana and did not expect Mooney to be injured in the first game itself.
Mooney's injury meant that Rana was thrown into the deep end and handed the captaincy duties for the rest of the tournament.
The Indian all-rounder did not have much captaincy experience and that was evident as she was found wanting on many occasions. A lot of tactical blunders were made, which cost the Giants a few games.
The Gujarat think tank could have perhaps handed the leadership to someone more experienced like Gardner.