TossGujarat Giants chose to bowl vs Mumbai Indians
In the WPL knockouts for the first time, Gujarat Giants had to deal with a last-minute blow as their star allrounder Deandra Dottin was ruled out of the game with an injury five minutes before the toss. Giants won the toss, at least, and kept with the trend of opting to bowl, even though teams batting first have won the last three games in the league.
Giants handed a WPL debut to England allrounder Danielle Gibson as a replacement for Dottin. Gibson hasn’t opened the batting for England in T20Is, but, if she opens tonight with Beth Mooney, might draw confidence from opening for London Spirit in the Hundred. Captain Ash Gardner said it was a “pretty cool opportunity” for Gibson, and was hoping she would “put us in a winning position with both bat and ball”.
Mumbai made one change as well, bringing in Saika Ishaque for Parunika Sisodia as a like-for-like replacement. Ishaque has played just one game in this WPL, when she leaked 43 runs in three overs in Mumbai’s opening match, against Delhi Capitals last month. Sisodia went wicketless for Mumbai in the last two matches.
A fresh pitch is being used for the Eliminator, and it is one with a little bit of grass on it. Mumbai have a dominating 6-0 record in the WPL against Giants. Whoever wins tonight will play Delhi Capitals in the final on Sunday at the same ground.
Mumbai has been seeing a fair bit of swing in the three games here, and there has been some dew as well at the Brabourne Stadium.
