In a sensational display of power-hitting and finesse, Shafali Verma, the dynamic captain of North Zone, etched her name in the record books by scoring the fastest century in the history of the Women’s Inter Zonal One Day Trophy.
North Zone vs North-East Zone
The North Zone Women led by skipper Shafali Verma had a disappointing start to the season with a couple of defeats from their first three games of the season so far. On the other hand, North East Zone led by skipper D D Dutta has failed to get their first points on the board with a hattrick of defeats to start the season. North Zone was all set to face North East Zone at the Kotambi Stadium on 5th February 2024 in the Senior Women’s Inter-Zonal One-Day Trophy.
North Zone led by skipper Shafali Verma won the toss and opted to bat first against the North East Zone. However, they got off to a poor start, losing their opener Sushma Verma in the 3rd over of the innings. Tanisha Ohlan joined Priya Punia at the crease and the duo stitched a crucial 45-run partnership for the 2nd wicket to lead some sort of recovery for North Zone before skipper D D Dutta cleaned up Tanisha Ohlan to provide the 2nd breakthrough for her side.
Amanjot Kaur joined Priya Punia at the crease and the duo stitched a 93-run partnership for the 3rd wicket before Linthoingambi Rajkumari picked up the wicket of Priya Punia to provide the 3rd breakthrough for North East Zone. She completed her well-deserved half-century before getting dismissed. Skipper Shafali Verma joined Amanjot Kaur at the crease and the duo stitched another crucial 70-run partnership for the 4th wicket before Amanjot Kaur was found short of her crease to provide the 4th breakthrough for North East Zone.
Tanisha Singh joined skipper Shafali Verma at the crease and the duo stitched a 46-run partnership for the 5th wicket to solidify North Zone’s control over the game. Ajima cleaned up Tanisha Singh to provide the 5th breakthrough for her side. Neena M Chaudhary joined skipper Shafali Verma at the crease and the duo continued the assault the North Zone eventually ended with a humongous total of 356/6 in their quota of overs powered by a blockbuster finish courtesy of a 91-run 6th wicket partnership towards the end.
Skipper Shafali Vema (133 off 64 balls) smashed the fastest century in the history of the Women’s Inter-zonal One Day Trophy, scoring at a monstrous strike rate of 207.81. Her tally of runs included 10 boundaries and 9 maximums. Amanjot Kaur (92 off 86 balls) and Priya Punia (52 off 92 balls) were the top performers with the bat for North Zone. Skipper D D Dutta (1/51) and Monica (1/55) were the top performers with the ball for the North East Zone.
Chasing a massive total of 357, the North East Zone got off to the worst possible start as they lost their top four inside the powerplay in a stiff run chase. Monica joined Sentilemla at the crease and the duo stitched a crucial 33-run partnership for the 5th wicket before Tanisha Ohlan picked up the wicket of Monica to provide the 5th breakthrough for North Zone. Purni Maya Guruni joined Sentilemla at the crease and the duo stitched a crucial 70-run partnership for the 6th wicket before Purni Maya Guruni was found short of her crease to provide the 6th breakthrough for North Zone.
The North East Zone suffered a mini collapse as they lost their next four wickets for just 27 runs and were bundled out for 147 runs with more than 6 overs to spare. North Zone sealed a massive 209-run victory over North East Zone. Sentilemla (64 off 104 balls), Purni Maya Guruny (25 off 56 balls), and Monica (17 off 29 balls) were the top performers with the bat for North East Zone. Nandani Sharma (3/15) and Priya Mishra (2/32) were the top performers with the ball for North Zone.
West Zone vs Central Zone
Central Zone led by 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 solid start scoring at just under 6 runs an over before Poonam Yadav picked up the big wicket of the opposition skipper Smriti Mandhana. Jemimah Rodrigues joined Yastika Bhatia at the crease but the duo failed to stitch a substantial partnership as the wicket-keeper batter Yastika Bhatia made her way back to the pavilion. She completed her well-deserved half-century before getting dismissed. West Zone eventually ended up with a total of 281/8 in their quota of overs.
Jemimah Rodrigues (100 off 86 balls), Yastika Bhatia (62 off 60 balls), and A A Patil (48 off 71 balls) were the top performers with the bat for West Zone. Poonam Yadav (6/48) and Tanuja Kanwer (2/58) were the top performers with the ball for Central Zone. Chasing a target of 282, the Central Zone got off to a poor start as they found themselves at 45/3 in the 12th over of the run chase. D Hemalatha joined Mona at the crease and the duo stitched a massive 99-run partnership for the 4th wicket before N Y Patel picked up the wicket of Mona to provide the 4th breakthrough for West Zone.
Central Zone was eventually restricted to 250/6 in their quota of overs. D Hemalatha (68 off 103 balls), skipper Sneh Rana (59 off 61 balls), and Mona (54 off 74 balls) were the top performers with the bat for Central Zone. N Y Patel (2/21), A A Patil (1/39), and Radha Yadav (1/45) were the top performers with the ball for West Zone. They eventually sealed a 31-run victory over Central Zone.
South Zone vs East Zone
On the other side, South Zone led by skipper Shreyanka Patil was up against East Zone led by skipper Deepti Sharma. South Zone skipper Shreyanka Patil won the toss and opted to bat first against East Zone. South Zone got off to a poor start losing a couple of wickets inside the powerplay and they found themselves at 13/2 in the 7th over of the innings. Sanjana S joined Gongadi Trisha at the crease and the duo stitched a 47-run partnership for the 3rd wicket before skipper Deepti Sharma picked up the wicket of Gongadi Trisha to provide the 3rd breakthrough for East Zone.
South Zone was eventually restricted to 194/9 in their quota of overs. Arundhati Reddy (51 off 78 balls), Sanjana S (34 off 46 balls), and skipper Shreyanka Patil (34 off 49 balls) were the top performers with the bat for South Zone. Skipper Deepti Sharma (3/39) and Titas Sadhu (3/42) were the top performers with the ball for East Zone. Chasing a target of 195, East Zone kept losing wickets at regular intervals and as a result, failed to form a substantial partnership. They were eventually bundled out for 118 with over 15 overs to spare. Durga Murmu (34 off 53 balls) was the top performer with the bat for East Zone. Akshara Srinivasan (4/16), Vinaya (3/20), and Shabnam (2/14) were the top performers with the ball for South Zone. They sealed a comprehensive 76-run victory over East Zone.