Women’s T20 Challenge Final: Supernovas clinch maiden title

Harmanpreet Kaur and her side, Supernovas, defeated Velocity in the final of the Women’s T20 Challenge by four wickets to win the inaugural triangular tournament. Around 13,000 in the attendance at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur witnessed a thrilling game which was decided on the last ball of the night. It was eventually Supernovas who tasted the victory.

All three teams in the tournament won a match each. Velocity and Supernovas secured their places in the final on the basis of a superior net run rate. In the fourth and final match of the competition, Supernovas captain Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and chose to field first.

Velocity collapse in a heap

Beginning of the game was all but disastrous for the Velocity side. Lea Tahuhu started off proceedings with a wicket-maiden. Two balls later, Anuja Patil sent back Danielle Wyatt. Shafali Varma 11(6) and captain Mithali Raj 12(22) tried their best to resurrect the innings but were dismissed cheaply.

At 37/5, the match was veering towards a premature finish. Velocity had lost its complete top order by this stage. It came down to wicketkeeper Sushma Verma and Amelia Kerr to get Velocity out of the trouble and reach a safe score. The duo added 71 runs in 65 balls for the sixth wicket. Varma 40(32) remained not out till the end and carried the side to a score of 121/6 in 20 overs.

Captain to the rescue

Supernovas started as the favorites to hunt down the lowly target. Despite losing Chamari Athapaththu early, the batting unit gathered steam with Priya Puniya and Jemimah Rodrigues accumulating runs. Their comfortable sailing was disrupted by a quick loss of wickets. From 53/1, they slid down to 64/5. The target was still 58 runs away with 51 balls remaining.

Harmanpreet Kaur decided to take the matter into her own hands. She stitched a brilliant partnership with Lea Tahuhu. In the 51-run stand, Tahuhu’s contribution was only two runs. The equation came down to seven runs needed from the last over. Harmanpreet 51(37) got out on the second ball but Radha Yadav stepped up to the occasion. After three braces, Yadav slammed a boundary on the last ball to secure a famous win.

Harmanpreet was the player of the match while Jemimah Rodrigues was adjudged as the player of the series.