Poonam Yadav stars with the ball before Tanuja Kanwar guides Central Zone to a Senior Women’s Inter-Zonal One-Day Trophy
West Zone led by skipper Smriti Mandhana had a great season as they managed to stay unbeaten throughout the season of the season with five victories from five games and as a result, were at the top of the points table with 20 points.
On the other hand, Central Zone led by skipper Sneh Rana, also had a great season finishing 2nd on the points table with 16 points from five games. Their only defeat came against West Zone when they ended up on the losing side by 31 runs. West Zone was all set to face Central Zone in the final of the Senior Women’s Inter-Zonal One-Day Trophy.
The Central Zone skipper Sneh Rana won the toss and opted to field first. After being inserted to bat first, the West Zone openers got off to a steady start scoring just over 6 runs an over before Mansi Joshi picked up the wicket of the wicket-keeper batter Yastika Bhatia to provide the first breakthrough for Central Zone. Jemimah Rodrigues joined skipper Smriti Mandhana at the crease and the duo stitched a crucial 60-run partnership for the 2nd wicket before Poonam Yadav picked up the massive wicket of the opposition skipper Smriti Mandhana to provide the 2nd breakthrough for Central Zone.
West Zone suffered a mini-collapse as they lost their next three wickets for just 20 runs. Radha Yadav joined Anuja Patil at the crease and the duo stitched another crucial 44-run partnership for the 6th wicket before Mansi Joshi came back and picked up the wicket of Radha Yadav to provide the much-needed breakthrough for Central Zone. West Zone eventually ended up with a total of 206/7 in their quota of overs.
Anuja Patil (54 off 80 balls), Jemimah Rodrigues (37 off 55 balls), and Smriti Mandhana (36 off 52 balls) were the top performers with the bat for West Zone. Poonam Yadav (4/35), Mansi Joshi (2/44), and Ss Kalal (1/38) were the top performers with the ball for Central Zone. Chasing a target of 207, the Central Zone openers got off to a good start as they put together a 54-run opening stand before Radha Yadav picked up the wicket of Nikita Singh to provide the first breakthrough for West Zone.
🏆 Central Zone are CHAMPIONS!! 🏆
After finishing as runner-ups last season, they have clinched a title this year beating West Zone by 3 Wickets. #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/r3nykpDbZe
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) February 9, 2024
Mona joined wicket-keeper batter Nuzhat Parween at the crease and the duo stitched another crucial 54-run partnership for the 2nd wicket before Anuja Patil picked up the wicket of the wicket-keeper batter Anuja Patil to provide the 2nd breakthrough for West Zone. Central Zone suffered a mini-collapse as they lost their next three wickets for just 33 runs and found themselves at 141/5 in the 40th over of the run chase.
Tanuja Kanwar joined skipper Sneh Rana at the crease and the duo stitched a crucial 33-run partnership for the 6th wicket before Humairaa Kaazi picked up the big wicket of the opposition skipper Sneh Rana to provide the 6th breakthrough for West Zone. Central Zone eventually chased down the total with three wickets in hand and four balls to spare to clinch the Senior Women’s Inter-Zonal One Day Trophy.
Tanuja Kanwar (37 off 33 balls), Mona (37 off 42 balls), wicket-keeper batter Nuzhat Parween (37 off 87 balls), and Nikita Singh (31 off 51 balls) were the top performers with the bat for Central Zone. Radha Yadav (3/27), and N Y Patel (1/45) were the top performers with the ball for West Zone.