WPL 2026: Aussies day out as Gardner and Wareham shine for Gujarat Giants, Litchfield’s stunning knock in vain

Ashleigh Gardner on the left and Phoebe Litchfield on right. (Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)

Gujarat Giants and UP Warriorz, the two franchises that had the most amount of rebuilding to do at the mega auction, showcased how they have managed to improve their squads in their opening fixture of WPL 2026 in a match that witnessed 404 runs scored in total. After posting 207/4 batting first, it was the GG who emerged victorious against UPW by 15 runs.

With a top-heavy batting lineup that is dependent on their overseas stars coming good, there is a lot riding on Ash Gardner’s form for GG this season, and the captain stepped up impressively with a 41-ball 65, studded with six fours and three sixes. It wasn’t a clean start to her knock, as she was dropped on 7 by UPW’s makeshift wicketkeeper Shweta Sehrawat who failed to hold on to an outside edge off the first ball of Asha Sobhana’s over. Then, when Gardner was on 11, Sehrawat’s technique came into focus again as she was late to gather a turning ball from Asha and took longer than ideal to complete a stumping with Gardner out of the crease. But once she got her eye in, the Aussie allrounder showed off her hitting range, finding boundaries with regularity. From 18 off 19, she zoomed through in a couple of overs, targeting Kranti Gaud and Asha.

Later in the piece, it was Georgia Wareham’s turn to smash 27 off 10 balls in a lower-order blitz. The legspinner, who played a stellar role in RCB’s title win a couple of seasons ago, then stepped up to deliver the key breakthroughs with the ball. She got the big breakthrough of Meg Lanning in the 9th over and followed that with Harleen Deol’s two deliveries later.

At the venue where she smashed a sensational century against India at the ODI World Cup semifinal, Litchfield finally signalled her arrival in the WPL. Her 40-ball 78, with eight fours and five sixes, was once more filled with audacious shots – reverse sweeps, a switch hit for six, and elegant off drives. Against her former franchise, batting at No 3, Litchfield barely put a foot wrong, before eventually finding the fielder at deep extra cover when a century seemed imminent. Ultimately, she didn’t get enough support from the other end.

While Gardner struggled to get going early on, it was Anushka Sharma who kept the momentum going after being asked to bat at No 3. The Madhya Pradesh batter looked compact on her debut, manipulating the field with an effortless ease to find boundaries. The standout shot was an inside-out extra cover drive off Sophie Ecclestone that went for four. She finished with a 30-ball 44. For UPW, even though Sehrawat didn’t have the best outing with gloves, her improved power-hitting was on display as she hit a couple of sixes in a quickfire 17-ball 25. And while it didn’t matter in the end, Asha’s 10-ball 27 was a good sign for UPW’s batting depth.