Gardner's fizzing start to the WPL season in India as the new captain of the Gujarat Giants was abruptly halted by England's star allrounder Sciver-Brunt, whose victory in their brief but compelling duel on Tuesday went a long way to powering Mumbai Indians to a five-wicket win in Vadodara.
With the Giants teetering early on in their innings at 3-22 after being asked to bat, Gardner tried to counter-attack, and smashed Sciver-Brunt's short ball over deep midwicket for six - her 11th maximum in the space of just three explosive innings.
The crowd braced for another all-out assault from the Bankstown basher, following her brilliant half-centuries in the opening two matches, but just two balls later, Sciver-Brunt undid her Aussie tormentor with a slower delivery.
Gardner just mistimed another attempted heave over deep midwicket and this time was caught safely by Sajeevan Sajana for just 10, which proved to be the game's key moment as Gujarat could then only muster a modest 120 from their 20 overs.
Tight bowling brings early rewards �#MI pick up both the #GG openers inside the Powerplay! 🔥— Women's Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) February 18, 2025Updates ▶ https://t.co/aczhtPyoET#TATAWPL | #GGvMI | @mipaltan pic.twitter.com/GxEBCGHJHc
Earlier, Sciver-Brunt had set the ball rolling by getting opener Mooney, the Ashes' highest scorer, to slice horribly to third-man, dismissed for one off three balls to follow up her golden duck in the previous game.
Sciver-Brunt then followed her 2-26 off four overs with the key knock in the chase, hammering 57 off 39 balls, including 11 boundaries, as Mumbai, the only side in the WPL without an Aussie in their ranks, eased their way to 5-122 with 23 balls to spare.
Her terrific all-round display still wasn't enough to earn Sciver-Brunt the player of the match award, though, as her West Indian teammate Hayley Matthews got the nod for her superb spell of 3-16 and handy 17 off 19 balls.
The Indians have now beaten Gujarat in every match they've played, with Gardner, whose side have lost two and won one, now looking forward to regrouping when the WPL moves from Vadodara to Bengaluru.
"We just lost wickets in clumps. We put a lot of onus on the top order to score a bulk of the runs but it wasn't to be," shrugged Gardner.
"We have a nice, little break now, lots of time to reset. There are lots of positives from the first three games, we could have won two.Â
"But different players have stood up at different times and the younger players have stood up, which is great to see. It is awesome and you see the passion they're bowling with. It's special to captain them."
