After the completion of Women’s U19 One Day Tournament, four teams, namely, India A, India B, India C and India D have been announced that will play the Challenger Trophy from November 2 to November 7 in Jaipur.
Three girls from Mumbai have made the cut for the Challenger Trophy. On the back of their stellar performances in the recently concluded one day tournament that was played from September 28 to October 18, Aachal Valanju, Nirmiti Rane and Sanika Chalke have made it to the Challenger Trophy.
Aachal Valanju:
She is the captain of the Mumbai U19 team. She is a right hand top order bat. During the recently concluded tournament, she muscled 238 runs in five matches at an average of 119. She scored one century and had the best score of 100 not out. Her strike rate was 72.12. Out of the 238 runs that she scored, 132 runs (4s: 33) came in the form of boundaries. Her 33 boundaries made her the number two batter to score maximum fours. She was the third-highest run getter in the tournament and the highest run getter for Mumbai. There were only six centurions in the tournament and Aachal was one of them.
Nirmiti Rane:
The right arm off-spinner was the leading wicket-taker for Mumbai in the tournament. Overall, she was ranked 11th in the list of wicket-takers in the tournament. She picked up 11 wickets in six matches at an average of 8.00 and an economy of 1.91. Her best bowling figures were 3-7. She bowled a total of 46 overs and gave away just 88 runs. She bowled as many as 227 dot balls and 12 maiden overs.
Sanika Chalke:
She is a left-hand bat and right-arm leg spinner. The middle-order bat mustered 176 runs in six matches at an average of 35.2. She was the second-highest run-getter for Mumbai in the tournament. She scored one century and one half-century, including the best score of 105 not out. Her 105 not out made her the number 4 batter with the most runs in an innings. She was one of the six centurions in the tournament. She hit a total of 23 boundaries in the six matches that she played.
I am a former cricketer having represented Mumbai University at All India University level. I was a part of MCA probables for the U-19 and U-23 age group. I have been an avid cricket writer for the last five years. Currently I am pursuing my Ph.D from IIT Bombay.