Gujarat Giants: Gujarat Giants’ head coach Michael Klinger believes his team are still in the hunt to qualify for the knockouts of the 2024 Women’s Premier League (WPL) despite having lost all their three matches in the tournament so far, the latest of which came in a six-wicket loss to UP Warriorz.
The defeats have meant the Giants’ are yet to open their account in the tournament and are rooted to the bottom of the points table. “It’s not the start we would have liked coming into the tournament. We were pretty confident of starting well after a good training camp but that hasn’t happened.”
“You don’t want to come into a tournament and start with three losses. We have to deal with it. We have got five games to go and need to win at least four to try and get to the finals. We are still in it but have got some work to do,” said Klinger after the match ended.
He also felt the intent shown by captain Beth Mooney and Laura Wolvaardt was great, but the execution didn’t go in the desired way. “Beth and Laura out there, on both those occasions mid-off was up. Sophie (Devine) is a good bowler, she’s very smart.”
“But we never tell them to stop backing themselves to get the game moving, and we needed to at that stage as well. The shot was on for both but they didn’t quite execute it. So I’ve got no issues with their shots.”
Klinger also admitted that the Giants’ are yet to find the desired balance in terms of their playing eleven make-up. “It’s a tough balance at the moment. I’ll be honest with you, Our batting hasn’t been quite strong going with three overseas and three locals. Because of that we had to make that change and that means we don’t have an overseas quick in our lineup.”
“So we have to back our locals with the ball and be very disciplined. When I say disciplined, bowl nice and straight and for us to really scrap in the field. For that first part of today, that didn’t happen. We gave probably too many free boundaries to the opposition by bowling a little bit wide.”
The only bright spark in their campaign has been the bowling of left-arm spinner Tanuja Kanwar, who has picked up five wickets at an average of 12.8. “Tanuja has been great. She is full of energy, in the field and off the field. She is bowling beautifully and has played some nice innings for us as well. She has had a great tournament so far and is great to have around the group as well,” concluded Klinger.
