Sharjah: Trailblazers, led by captain Smriti Mandhana’s 68 and ably supported by spinners Salma Khatun and Deepti Sharma, clinched the Women’s T20 Challenge beating Supernovas by 16 runs in the final match here Monday.
Batting first, Trailblazers scored 118 for eight wickets in 20 overs, with Smriti being the top scorer with 68 off 49 balls (5x4s, 3x6s), and left-arm spinner Radha Yadav bagging five wicket hauls. Chasing, Supernovas were restricted to 102 for seven wickets in 20 overs, largely due to off-spinners Salma Khatun of Bangladesh(3/18) and Deepti Sharma (2/9).
Also, veteran Jhulan Goswami bowled a tight line, conceding only 17 runs in her four-over spell, though she didn’t take a wicket.
For the losers, captain Harmanpreet Kaur was the top scorer with 30 off 36 balls. But no other batswoman could get going.
Earlier, Radha captured five wickets to trigger a middle order collapse of Trailblazers batting line-up. After captain Smriti and Deandra Dottin (20) provided a solid start of 71 runs in 11 overs, Trailblazers failed to build on the platform and sensationally caved in to Radha’s guiles, after they were asked to bat. Only one other batswomen, Richa Ghosh (10), crossed the double digit mark. Radha finished with excellent figures of 4-0-16-5.
Brief scores: Trailblazers: 118/8 wkts in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 68, Deandra Dottin 20, Radha Yadav 5/16) beat Supernovas: 102/7 wkts in 20 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 30, Shashikala Siriwardene 19, Salma 3/18, Deepti 2/9) by 16 runs.
IANS