India-B Women registered their first win of the T20 Challenger Trophy today at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack against India-C Women.
They now lead the points table as India-B now is on the top with 6 points. The first match of the series which was slated between India-A and India-B on the 4th Jan was abandoned due to rain without a toss. Both the teams got 2 points after the match was abandoned.
The Women’s senior T20 Challenger Trophy was hoped to be a perfect assignment for the Indian Women players ahead of the Women’s T20 World Cup. This series is being played between three teams that are India-A Women, India-B Women, and India-C Women. The tournament was first time introduced in the 2018-19 season; it is the second T20 tournament in the women’s domestic season which is slated at the start of the season. This tournament aims to test the players and keep them ready for the upcoming season.
At the start of the game, India C won the toss and chose to field. The Smriti Mandhana led India-B came to batting but the captain couldn’t help her team as she got out for just 6 runs in the third over. A brilliant knock by Richa Ghosh of 25 runs in 26 balls helped India-B Women to reach till a total of 94/8 in 20 overs. Down the order, Shikha Pandey helped the team with her crucial 15 runs and came back not out. India-C women managed to take early wickets of Mandhana and Rodrigues and took a total of 8 wickets as Rajeshwari G took 3 wickets. The target of 95 runs seemed to be easy for India-C Women as they had a strong batting line-up of Shafali Verma, D Hemalatha and Captain Veda Krishnamurthy.
In the second innings India-C started off well with a run rate greater than 7, but back-to-back wickets of their openers Nuzhat Parween and Shafali Verma cost them the match. D Hemalatha was the top scorer for India-C Women with 20 runs in 30 balls who pushed the team till a total of 90. The match went on till the very last ball of the last over where India-C lost 2 wickets in the last over and finished for 90 runs with 8 wickets. Bowlers like Sushree Dibyadarshini and Tanuja Kanwer helped their team to stop the opponent from chasing the target. A strong partnership was built between D Hemalatha and Veda Krishnamurthy, but Dibyadarshini took the responsibility and whitewashed the middle order as she went on to take 3 wickets.
The target of 95 runs was not a huge score to chase but India-B survived because of their well-built bowling line-up.
Brief Scores: (India B won by 4 runs)
India B- 94/8 in 20 overs (Richa Ghosh 25 & Rajeshwari Gayakwad 3 for 7) defeated India C- 90/8 in 20 overs (Hemalatha Dayalan 20 & Sushree Dibyadarshini 3 for 15) by 4 runs.
