Ash Gardner's Gujarat Giants stumble yet again against WPL bogey team Mumbai Indians

Despite Ash Gardner's outstanding individual performance, her Gujarat Giants suffered their sixth loss against the Mumbai Indians, meaning they lost the chance to directly advance to the Women's Premier League final.

Chasing a victory target of 180, the Giants found the Mumbai team's powerful offensive, composed of a multinational force, difficult to cope with, ultimately losing by 9 runs. Mumbai successfully defended their score thanks to their strong bowling lineup.

New Zealand leg-spinner Amelia Kerr took 3 wickets (3-34), and West Indies' Hayley Matthews also took 3 wickets (3-38), including Beth Mooney for 7 runs. South African fast bowler Shabnim Ismail took 2 wickets (2-17) in her four overs, including Gardner for a duck and Phoebe Litchfield for 22 runs.

A Mumbai victory, or even a tie in their final group match against the bottom-ranked Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Tuesday, would send them to Saturday's final, where the Giants will face Meg Lanning's Delhi Capitals in Thursday's eliminator.

Gardner, after winning the coin toss and letting Mumbai bat first, led by example. She took 1 wicket (1-27) in her four overs, the best figures for the Giants, and she caught and bowled the dangerous Englishwoman Nat Sciver-Brunt, who scored 38 runs off 31 balls.

Gardner also ran out Kerr (5 runs) with a brilliant direct hit and caught Amanjot Kaur (27 runs off 15 balls) to limit a late surge.

Harmanpreet Kaur top-scored for Mumbai with 54 runs off 33 balls before being caught in the deep by Litchfield.

The Giants needed to hit their opponents for 18 runs an over to reach the top, making the effective required run rate 10 per over. But as they tried to swing the bat, wickets kept falling, and by the 11th over, they were behind the clock at 5-70.

Bharti Fulmali kept them in the game with 61 runs off 25 balls, but ultimately it was too much, and the Giants were all out on the final ball.