The Paytm Women’s Senior Challengers series has got off to a rather humble start with the first match of the series between India A & India B being washed off and the second match between India B & India C being quite a low scoring affair. But the third match of the contest between India A & India C had quite a few moments where a quality display of cricket was there on offer.
Winning the toss & batting first on a sunny day and a hard surface, India C on the back of a disappointing loss the previous day came in with the same 11 on the field with a point to prove. Captain Veda Krishnamurthy had no hesitations on the intent they were about to show by deciding to put up a target on the board. The openers came out with quite a positive intent with Shafali Verma being the natural aggressor from the get-go and ably supported by Yastika Bhatia in putting up a 50-run partnership for the opening stand in the first 6 overs itself making full use of the powerplay.
Shafali Verma scored 38 runs in 24 balls and was looking dangerous but two quick wickets in succession of both the openers by Mansi Joshi & Sneh Rana saw a slump in run rate of India C. Captain Veda Krishnamurthy (17 off 13 balls) was dismissed by Radha Yadav on account of a brilliant catch taken by her counterpart Harmanpreet Kaur which dented the scoring rate of the India C side. Dayalan Hemalatha (24* off 25 balls) tried to provide some solidarity in the middle order but frequently ran out of partners at the other end.
Deepti Sharma was the pick of the bowlers for India A with 2 wickets in her 4 overs giving away 20 runs. With Radha Yadav, Sneh Rana, Mansi Joshi, D.P.Vaidya claiming a wicket each and the skipper Harmanpreet Kaur being economical in her spell of 3 overs giving away just 7 runs, India A managed to keep India C to score of 123/7 in their 20 overs.
In reply, India A got off to a rather slow start with Priya Puniya getting a run a ball 25 and Deepti Sharma scoring 34 off 29 deliveries which couldn’t be enough for India A to chase the target down. The turning point of the match was the wicket of Harmanpreet Kaur when she was on 13 off 13 when played a cut shot off a short ball off Arundhati Reddy which went straight to the hands of Rajeshwari Gayakwad at the point region. India A managed 113/6 at the end of their 20 overs and lost the game by 10 runs.
Brief Scores: India C – 123/7 (20 overs) India A – 113/6 (20 overs)
Result: India C won the game by 10 runs.
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