Vadodara, Jan 22 (IANS) An unchanged UP Warriorz have won the toss and elected to bowl first against Gujarat Giants in the 2026 Women's Premier League (WPL) 2026 clash at the BCA Stadium, Kotambi, in Vadodara on Thursday. Whoever wins Thursday’s clash will go to second place in the points table.

Third-placed UP Warriorz have emerged from a three-match losing streak to register consecutive victories. Fifth-ranked Gujarat Giants are looking to break their three-game losing streak after starting with two successive victories.

“If we can put Gujarat under some pressure early, it will be nice. It's a bit dewy already. We had a couple of days off, you know, straight after our last game, which was nice because it was a pretty hectic period. So, back into training the last couple of days, the group's really focused. We've got tonight's game, they're pretty high stakes.

“So we need to play well and put out our best performance. Assessing the conditions is really important anywhere you go. Perhaps not as much bounce here as there was in Navi Mumbai, but we're on a new wicket today. So we need to, as I said, assess what the best way to go about it is, firstly with the ball and then chase it down later on,” said UPW captain Meg Lanning.

GG skipper Ashleigh Gardner said top-order batter Danni Wyatt-Hodge comes in for leg-spinner Georgia Wareham, while left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad is also included in place of Tanuja Kanwer.

“We were going to bowl as well, but I think if we look at the three games at the start of our tournament, when we almost scored 200 in every game batting first, we obviously have to take a lot of confidence out of that. Obviously, a different venue, so that poses a different challenge, but hopefully we can set the tone really early here. You probably have to play a lot straighter for longer.

“That seems really simple, but I think also being able to invest a couple of balls at the start of your innings is super important, knowing that at these grounds, obviously, the outfields are so fast and quick that you can always catch up. So, even if you feel like you're behind the eight ball, it certainly doesn't take too many shots to kind of get back in front.

“So, I guess for us, it's trying to be really clinical in our decision-making, which over the last couple of games, maybe we haven't been. But I think it's a real positive tonight that we can try and go out there and set the tone early. Obviously, we know that we've got three games left. We obviously want to win three as well.

“So, I think, if we can just focus on the positives for us, there's obviously been a lot of chat around that, and it's almost like restarting our tournament now with the teams that we play at the back end here are all on the same points. So, it's almost like forgetting, I guess, the top of the ladder and just focusing on what I guess we can control, and that's playing really good cricket and then hopefully putting some wins on the board,” she said.

Playing XIs:

Gujarat Giants: Beth Mooney (wk), Sophie Devine, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Anushka Sharma, Ashleigh Gardner (c), Kanika Ahuja, Bharti Fulmali, Kashvee Gautam, Happy Kumari, Renuka Singh Thakur, Rajeshwari Gayakwad

UP Warriorz: Meg Lanning (c), Kiran Navgire, Phoebe Litchfield, Harleen Deol, Chloe Tryon, Shweta Sehrawat (wk), Sophie Ecclestone, Deepti Sharma, Asha Sobhana Joy, Shikha Pandey, Kranti Gaud

--IANS

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