Vadodara, Jan 23 (IANS) Gujarat Giants head coach Michael Klinger said his message for the team during the drinks break in their WPL 2026 clash against UP Warriorz was to really go out and fight hard, something which spurred them to secure a 45-run win at the BCA Stadium and move to second place in the points table.

“The black soil doesn’t bounce as much, but it came onto the bat quite nicely. So if I’m being honest, I thought we were probably 20 short with a bat, even just a couple of sort of mistakes through the innings that we made that could have helped us get there.

“But one thing we spoke about in the break was just asking the girls to really go out and fight hard. We know they’ve got two or three really key batters who have made the majority of their runs. I think they’ve made something around 75 to 80% of their runs for the tournament.

“So we knew that if we get those key wickets, we will be massively in the game. Then some of the batters who hadn’t batted as long throughout the tournament, the pressure would have been on them, and I’m extremely proud of the group. Our fielding has been a bit of a rollercoaster throughout the tournament, but they were fantastic,” said Klinger in the post-game press conference.

The move to bring in left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad in place of Tanuja Kanwer paid off when she picked 3-16 to run through UPW’s middle overs. “It was a really tough call. TK has been a big part of our team for a few years now. We felt like we definitely wanted to go in with an extra quick as an option. In the end, we didn’t use it because our spinners bowled really well.

“So we went in with Happy (Kumari), but she’ll get an opportunity down the track in the next game to get some overs in. But I think Raj probably gave us an option in the power play. We felt maybe slightly more than TK, not that TK isn’t good at that in the power plays, more so just Raj has bowled a few good overs for us already this season.

“In the end, we didn’t use her in the power play, but she did fantastically well through the middle to bowl four over straight from one end, 3-16, that unbelievable effort and match winning spell that was. So, I’m really happy for her. I thought she filled it well too. She’s been working really hard at training and she’s done fantastically well,” added Klinger.

Reflecting on conditions and the slowness of the pitch, where GG made 153/8, Klinger said, “I think it was under par. The wicket was good, felt it was probably a 170 to 180 par wicket. We just probably didn’t bat as well as we could have and then we obviously put a lot of pressure on the opposition with our bowling and fielding. So I thought the groundsmen got the wicket quite nice.”

Asked if this will be the pattern seen in rest of the games at the venue, Klinger said he hoped there were enough fresh wickets prepared for the business end of the competition. “Tough one. I think it’s going to depend a little bit whether you play on the wicket the first time or the second time.

“Like I felt two nights ago, the match, the second time it was played on, was a bit lower. So it’d be interesting to see tomorrow (Saturday) night how this one plays, whether it plays as well as it was here or whether it’s a bit lower than this game. So that’s going to be interesting.

“I’m not sure if they’ve got three or four wickets prepared, but I think the more wickets they have here prepared, the better for the rest of the competition because I’m not sure you want to be playing third time on these wickets. So maybe they can prepare four or five for the tournament to make sure we have good wickets right through.”

On the dew factor, Klinger noted it was less disruptive than last season. “Well, it was, but I think it’s a little bit different to last year. I think it was here in Lucknow when there was dew.

“The bowlers seemed to struggle to hold it and it was a little bit slippery, whereas I think this year, maybe it’s the spray they’re using. I’m not sure, but it seems to be wet definitely when fielding, but the bowlers seem to be able to get a good grip on it. So maybe it’s not as bad as it was here last year.”

–IANS

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