East Zone led by skipper Deepti Sharma were all set to face North Zone led by skipper Harmanpreeet Kaur in the 1st semi-final in the Senior Women’s Inter Zonal Multi-Day Trophy at the Pune Cricket Club.
East Zone led by skipper Deepti Sharma won the toss and opted to bat first. East Zone got off to a poor start losing their top order cheaply. Rizu Saha joined Dhara Gujjar at the crease and the duo stitched a 13-run partnership for 4th wicket before Priyanka Sharma picked up the wicket of Rizu Saha to provide the 4th breakthrough for North Zone. Monikha Das joined Dhara Gujjar at the crease and the duo stitched a crucial 24-run partnership for the 5th wicket before Amanjot Kaur picked up the wicket of Dhara Gujjar to provide the 5th breakthrough for her side.
Durga Murmu joined Monikha Das at the crease and the duo stitched another crucial 29-run partnership for the 6th wicket before Parunika Sisodia cleaned up Monikha Das to provide the 6th breakthrough for North Zone. Annapurna Das joined Durga Murmu at the crease and the duo stitched a 23-run partnership for the 7th wicket before Pratika Rawal picked up the wicket of Durga Murmu to provide the 7th breakthrough for her side.
East Zone were eventually bundled out for 132 in the 72nd over of the innings. They suffered a mini-collapse as they lost their last three wickets for just 20 runs. Monikha Das (29 off 75 balls), Durga Murmu (28 off 88 balls), and Dhara Gujjar (17 off 81 balls) were the top performers with the bat for East Zone. Priyanka Sharma (17-8-32-2), Amanjot Kaur (11-4-21-2), and Shafali Verma (5.4-3-4-2) were the top performers with the ball for North Zone.
After a solid performance with the ball by the North Zone bowlers, the batters followed it up with a solid response with the bat. The North Zone openers Shafali Verma and Priya Puniya got off to a good start, stitching a 56-run opening stand. Mamta Paswan struck twice in two balls to remove Priya Punia and Pratika Rawal to land a double blow to North Zone. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur joined Shafali Verma at the crease and the duo stitched a crucial 37-run partnership for the 3rd wicket before the East Zone skipper Deepti Sharma picked up the wicket of the opposition skipper Harmanpreet Kaur to provide the 3rd breakthrough for East Zone.
Nandani Sharma joined Shafali Verma at the crease towards the end of the 1st day’s play. North Zone are 99/3 in 28 overs, trailing East Zone by 33 runs. North Zone has the edge coming into the 2nd day’s play.
