History was created in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) on Tuesday night but it was not a moment Ayushi Soni would have cherished.
She became the first player to be retired out during Gujarat Giants’ match against Mumbai Indians at the DY Patil Stadium on Tuesday.
Making her WPL debut, Soni walked in at No. 6 but struggled to get going, scoring 11 runs off 14 balls without hitting a boundary. With Gujarat Giants looking to maximise their scoring in the death overs, the team made the tactical call to retire her out at the end of the 16th over, with the score at 136 for 5.
Gujarat Giants head coach Michael Klinger later explained the decision at the post-match press conference. “We spoke to Ayushi and Georgia at the 13-over timeout and asked Ayushi to really lift her strike rate once we got to the 15th over, considering the batting depth we had left,” Klinger said. “After the 16th over, we felt it was the right time to inject Bharti (Fulmali) with four overs to go, knowing we still had strong batters in the shed.”
Gujarat Giants went on to post 192 for 5 after being put in to bat.
Chasing the stiff target, Mumbai Indians captain Harmanpreet Kaur brought up a 33-ball half-century -- her 10th in the WPL -- and also crossed 1,000 runs in the tournament to become the first Indian to reach the milestone. She remained unbeaten on 71 to lead Mumbai Indians to a seven-wicket win.
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