Harmanpreet 82* in vain as GG break MI hoodoo and seal Eliminator spot

Gujarat Giants (GG) don't enjoy the routine. On a day when they became the first team in 41 WPL games to bat after winning the toss, they went on to reverse another trend - of not having beaten Mumbai Indians (MI) in eight previous meetings. With their fifth win of WPL 2026, all of which have come while defending totals, GG qualified for the Eliminator for a second season in a row.

It did not come easy. Harmanpreet Kaur threatened to do what she did to GG in 2024 with a playoffs spot on the line. With MI needing 58 off 24 balls, she all but single-handedly brought them within reach of victory, hitting three fours and three sixes - twice clearing the rope off Ashleigh Gardner in the final over - to bring the equation down to 14 off 3. But Gardner kept her calm and closed out the over to seal GG's first-ever win over the two-time champions.

It was a fitting end, because Gardner had been a catalyst in GG's strong finish earlier in the evening. She scored 46 off 28 balls, and added 71 off 43 with Georgia Wareham to take GG to 167, a total that had looked distant for much of their innings.

It is not yet curtains for MI, though. They will now hope for a UP Warriorz win over Delhi Capitals in the last league fixture on Sunday, with net run rate coming into play.

While GG seemed to back a method that has worked for them this season, their toss decision was fraught with risk, especially after Beth Mooney fell cheaply. Sophie Devine and Anushka Sharma looked solid but couldn't really force the pace until the final over of the powerplay, in which they scored 12 off Vaishnavi Sharma. Despite not picking up wickets regularly, MI had the innings under control: GG scored in double-digits in only two of the first 11 overs. When Devine and Anushka fell in successive overs, GG had to rebuild with only 45% of their overs left.

Gardner and Wareham hit at least one four in each of the first three overs of their partnership. The switch was truly flicked when Wareham danced down to Amelia Kerr and launched her over the sightscreen in the 15th over. Gardner then hit Hayley Matthews for 6, 4, 4, 4 in the 16th, and both batters hit two fours each in the 17th, Shabnim Ismail's final over. Gardner was soon stumped off Kerr but Wareham kept the big hits coming, finishing on 44 not out off 26 as GG scored 61 in their last five overs.

Devine struck in each of her first two overs while Kashvee Gautam picked up a wicket in between, as MI lost their top three inside seven overs. Harmanpreet and Amelia Kerr then used the cut superbly to pierce the gap between backward point and short third multiple times, putting on 45 off 30 for the fourth wicket. But once Wareham had Kerr caught behind, MI's ask became steep. Not nearly as difficult, however, as the situation Harmanpreet had mastered in 2024.

With GG going spin-heavy, Harmanpreet began finding the boundary regularly. She particularly targeted the shorter leg-side boundary (51m vs 59m) against Rajeshwari Gayakwad's left-arm spin, hitting her for two sixes and a four in the space of seven balls spread across two overs. But GG clawed back, with Gayakwad getting Amanjot Kaur stumped and Wareham trapping Sanskriti Gupta for a first-ball duck. Harmanpreet ended the night with the Orange Cap on her head, but it was the team in orange that progressed to the next round.