Sixteen-year-old pacer Shabnam Shakil announced her arrival on the big stage with brilliant figures of 3/11 to negate Deepti Sharma’s brilliance as Gujarat Giants all but dashed UP Warriorz’s hopes of qualifying for the knock-out stages with an eight-run victory in the Women’s Premier League here on Monday.
Warriorz, with a negative net run-rate of -0.371, needed to win to have any chance of qualification but despite Deepti’s unbeaten 88 off 60 balls, Warriorz could only end up with 144 for 5, chasing a target of 153 set by the Giants. India international Deepti smashed nine fours, while her partner Poonam Khemnar scored 36 off as many balls. But the Warriorz had already lost steam after being reduced to 35 for 5 and it was always going to be a catch-up game for Healy’s women
They ended their eight-game campaign with six points. Even if RCB lose their last game, the Bengaluru side would still enjoy a better net run-rate unless they lose by a massive margin. Shabnam, playing only her second game of the season, removed seasoned campaigners Alyssa Healy, Chamari Athapaththu and her former India U-19 teammate Shweta Sehrawat to dash any hopes that Warriorz harboured of finishing in the top three.
Bowling with a high-arm action and pronounced jump, the neat six-foot-tall girl got extra bounce and the subtle movement off the seam also did work wonders for her. Earlier, UP Warriorz’s spin troika of Sophie Ecclestone, Deepti Sharma and Rajeswari Gayakwad made life miserable for wooden spooners Gujarat Giants before Beth Mooney’s unbeaten 74 gave them some breathing space with a total of 152 for 8. Young Indian fielders in the Warriorz side committed basic mistakes in catching and holding fort in the deep, which cost the team an extra 25 runs.
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