Skipper Shafali Verma overshadows Archana Devi’s all-round show to clinch the Senior Women’s Under-23 One Day Trophy.
“Uttar Pradesh led by skipper Shipra Giri finished on the top of the points table with 20 points from 6 matches including 5 victories and their only defeat came against Uttarakhand. They defeated Uttarakhand by three wickets in the 2nd semi-final to make it to the final. On the other hand, Haryana led by skipper Shafali Verma finished 2nd on the points table with 20 points from 7 games including 5 victories and a couple of defeats against Odisha and Rajasthan. Haryana defeated Bengal by 2 wickets in the 1st semi-final to make it to the final.
Uttar Pradesh skipper Shipra Giri won the toss and opted to field first. After being inserted to bat first, Haryana got off to a poor start losing their top order in the 4th over of the innings including the wicket of their skipper Shafali Verma. Sonia Mendhiya joined Deeya Yadav at the crease and the duo stitched a 19-run partnership for the 4th wicket before Archana Devi picked up the wicket of Sonia Mendhiya to provide the 4th breakthrough for Uttar Pradesh.
Triveni Vasistha joined Deeya Yadav at the crease and the duo stitched a 33-run partnership for the 5th wicket before Archana Devi came back and picked up the wicket of Deeya Yadav to provide the 5th breakthrough. Haryana suffered a collapse as they lost their next four wickets for just 57 runs. Haryana eventually ended up with a total of 172/9 in their quota of overs courtesy of a 53-run partnership for the 10th wicket. Deeya Yadav (36 off 77 balls), Gyanbharti Jangra (31 off 35 balls), and Amandeep Kaur (24 off 38 balls) were the top performers with the bat for Haryana. Almas Bharadwaj (10-4-16-4), and Archana Devi (10-0-29-2) were the top performers with the ball for Uttar Pradesh.
Chasing a target of 173, Uttar Pradesh got off to a similar start to Haryana losing their top order cheaply including the wicket of their skipper Shipra Giri. Ekta joined Shobha Devi at the crease and the duo stitched a 27-run partnership for the 4th wicket before Amandeep Kaur cleaned up Ekta to provide the 4th breakthrough for Haryana. Uttar Pradesh suffered a mini-collapse as they lost their next three wickets for just 19 runs.
Archana Devi joined Sonali Singh at the crease and the duo stitched a crucial 32-run partnership for the 8th wicket before Haryana skipper Shafali Verma picked up the wicket of Sonali Singh to provide the 8th breakthrough for Haryana. Uttar Pradesh were eventually bundled out for 110 with more than 6 overs to spare. Shobha Devi (24 off 57 balls) and Archana Devi (30 off 50 balls) were the top performers with the bat for Uttar Pradesh. Skipper Shafali Verma (6.4-0-18-3), Gulshan Ali (6-1-15-2), and Amandeep Kaur (9-1-30-1) were the top performers with the ball for Haryana. Shafali Verma led Haryana to a comprehensive 62-run victory over Uttar Pradesh to clinch the Women’s Under-23 One Day Trophy title.