Vadodara. When the current champion and two-time winners Mumbai Indians face Gujarat Giants in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) on Friday, this match will be very important for both of them as they will try to secure their place in the playoffs. By winning this match, Gujarat Giants would like to secure a place in the playoffs of the Women’s Premier League for the second consecutive time.

Gujarat Giants are currently placed second in the points table with eight points and their net run rate is -0.271. He is two points ahead of Mumbai Indians (six points, net run rate +0.146) and Delhi Capitals (six points, net run rate -0.164). The fate of Gujarat Giants is now in his own hands. A win over Harmanpreet Kaur-led Mumbai Indians will guarantee them a place in the WPL playoffs, while a win by a record margin could take them straight to the final.

However, even a defeat by a small margin can end the Giants’ campaign. Even if Gujarat Giants loses to Mumbai Indians on Friday, there will still be some chance of them reaching the playoffs, but this will be possible only if UP Warriors defeat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and then Delhi Capitals on Thursday.

Gujarat Giants have lost all their last eight matches against Mumbai Indians, making captain Ashley Gardner’s job even more difficult. His team will be determined to end this losing streak but Mumbai Indians will also leave no stone unturned to further improve their record.

Gujarat Giants team is currently in good form. Due to the brilliant performance of veteran Sophie Devine, they defeated Delhi Capitals by three runs in the last match. Mumbai Indians had also defeated RCB by 15 runs in the last match, which would definitely boost their morale. In the last match for Mumbai Indians, Nate Sciver-Brunt had scored the first century in the history of this competition.

Along with Haley Mathews, he played an important role in the team’s victory. Mathews also left his mark with the ball and took three important wickets. Mumbai Indians will expect similar performance from these two foreign players again. It is a positive aspect for Mumbai Indians that their net run rate is the best among all the teams in the race to make it to the playoffs.

In such a situation, if the points are equal, Mumbai Indians will get the advantage, while if Gujarat Giants loses, they will go into the difficult path of ‘if but but’. If Harmanpreet’s team loses to Gujarat Giants, they will have to hope that Delhi loses to UP Warriors in their last league match. In such a situation, net run rate will matter. The teams are as follows.

Gujarat Giants: Ashley Gardner (captain), Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Beth Mooney (wk), Bharti Fulmali, Shivani Singh (wk), Kanika Ahuja, Sophie Devine, Kim Garth, Anushka Sharma, Ayushi Soni, Kashvi Gautam, Rajeshwari Gaikwad, Jintimani Kalita, Tanuja Kanwar, Renuka Singh Thakur, Georgia Wareham.

Mumbai Indians: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Poonam Khemnar, Hayley Mathews, Rahila Firdous (wk), Millie Illingworth, Amanjot Kaur, Amelia Kerr, Nate Sciver-Brunt, Sajeevan Sajna, Nicola Carey, Sanskriti Gupta, Saika Ishaq, Shabnim Ismail, Kranti Reddy, Vaishnavi Sharma, Triveni Vashishtha. The match will start at 7:30 pm Indian time.

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