GGW vs MIW 1st Match Prediction

GGW vs MIW Team Previews

Gujarat Giants Women

Unlike the Mumbai Indians, whose management has a lot of experience in T20 franchise cricket, the Gujarat Giants aren't related to any existing IPL teams and it will be interesting to see how that affects their gameplay.

The team seems to have bet on overseas players to give them a solid performance and that is not necessarily a bad thing. The Gujarat Giants will be helmed by Beth Mooney, who played a brilliant knock of 74 runs in the finals of the recently concluded ICC Women’s T20 World Cup to help Australia lift the trophy for the 3rd consecutive time.

She will be aided by fellow Australians Ashleigh Gardner and Annabel Sutherland, both of whom are excellent all-rounders, while Sophia Dunkley and Deandra Dottin will add firepower to the batting line-up. The Giants are however a bit short on quality Indian players as Harleen Deol and Sneh Rana are the only two regulars from the National team. While D Hemalatha, Ashwani Kumari, and S Meghana have shown a lot of potential in the domestic circuit, they can crack under pressure and cannot be relied on in close situations.

Sneh Rana is an experienced campaigner and will likely be quite effective on the pitch at the DY Patil Stadium with her off-breaks. She will be supported by Georgia Wareham who seems to have recovered from her injury. However, the pace attack of the Giants lacks quality bowlers and that can be a bit of an issue, especially during the Powerplay. 

Mumbai Indians Women

After the success of the Mumbai Indians Men’s team in the IPL, the onus will be on the Women to replicate that success in the WPL. And the team management seems to have infused a lot of firepower, especially in the batting department, to achieve that goal.

The Mumbai Indians will be led by Harmanpreet Kaur, who led the Indian team in the recently concluded ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa. Despite her stellar leadership and some good batting, especially in the semifinals against a formidable Australia, Kaur’s team suffered a heartbreak and couldn’t make it to the Finals.

However, Harmanpreet will likely put that loss behind her and focus all her energies on what is likely to be the biggest event in Women’s T20 cricket. She has a strong batting line-up at her disposal, consisting of power hitters like Nat Sciver-Brunt and Hayley Matthews, both of whom played well in the World Cup.

Yastika Bhatia will be the team’s primary wicket-keeper and she too is capable of scoring runs at a steady rate. The team has also invested in several good all-rounders including Amelia Kerr, Chloe Tryon, and Pooja Vastrakar.

Their bowling lacks the bite and that could be the Achilles heel for the MI Women. The unit consists of relatively inexperienced players like Sonam Yadav, Saika Ishaque, and Issy Wong, who may leak runs under pressure.