There was a lot of madness in the end, but even that didn’t prevent Velocity from opening its campaign in the Women’s T20 Challenge on the right note.
Mithali Raj’s girls beat Trailblazers by three wickets with two overs to spare. The margin should have been much bigger, but they somehow managed to lose five wickets off seven balls, without adding a run. And all this happened when they needed just two, chasing a mere 113.
It was left to Sushree Pradhan, the uncapped 21-year-old from Odisha, to restore normalcy. She steered off-spinner Deepti Sharma through the third man for a couple, much to the relief of the Velocity dugout.
Dramatic phase
The drama began to unfold with the fifth ball of the 17th over, when Danielle Wyatt, the hard-hitting Englishwoman, was caught at mid-off by Deepti off left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad, for a well-struck 46 (35b, 5x4, 2x6).
After her dismissal, Veda Krishnamurthy was run out, and Deepti cleaned up Mithali, Shikha Pandey and Amelia Kerr within a space of five balls. Sushree, however, was in no mood to contribute to the comedy of errors, especially on a day on which she had done well with her off-spin.
Skill and maturity
Another uncapped player and her teammate, 15-year-old Shafali Verma, did even better.
Opening the innings, she displayed excellent stroke-making skills and maturity to score 34 (31b, 5x4, 1x6).
Earlier, Trailblazers captain Smriti Mandhana had given the feeling that she was continuing from where she had left off in her last innings, lofting seamer Shikha for a four over mid-off and then driving the next ball gorgeously through the same area.
In her second over, Shikha had her revenge. She took arguably the most prized wicket in women’s cricket at the moment, with a ball that moved away.
Smriti tried to play it through the third-man area but ended up giving a catch behind the stumps to Sushma.
Harleen Deol joined Suzie Bates and the showed her talent yet again. She played the anchor, making 43 (40b), but none of the others got going.
Bates, who made 26, was looking good when she stepped out and unconvincingly hit left-arm spinner Ekta Bishta straight to Veda at long-on. Trailblazers, which was put in, was 50 for two at that stage, in 8.1 overs.
They should have been able to post a bigger total than 112. Credit, though, has to be given to some tight bowling by Velocity.
Scoreboard:
TRAILBLAZERS
Suzie Bates c Veda b Ekta 26 (22b, 2x4, 1x6), Smriti Mandhana c Sushma b Shikha 10 (10b, 1x4), Harleen Deol c Veda b Kerr 43 (40b, 5x4), Stefanie Taylor c & b Sushree 5 (18b), Deepti Sharma c Matthews b Kerr 16 (16b, 2x4), Bharati Fulmali b Ekta 2 (4b), D. Hemalatha (not out) 1 (3b), Shakera Selman (not out) 8 (7b, 1x4); Extras (b-1): 1; Total (for six wkts. in 20 overs): 112.
FALL OF WICKETS
1-15 (Smriti, 2.1 overs), 2-50 (Bates, 8.1), 3-68 (Taylor, 13.1), 4-100 (Deepti, 17.3), 5-100 (Harleen, 17.4), 6-103 (Barati, 18.4).
VELOCITY BOWLING
Shikha 4-0-18-1, Komal 4-0-23-0, Ekta 4-0-13-2, Matthews 2-0-22-0, Kerr 3-0-21-2, Sushree 3-1-14-1.
VELOCITY
Hayley Matthews b Deepti 5 (14b, 1x4), Shafali Verma c Rajeshwari b Harleen 34 (31b, 5x4, 1x6), Danielle Wyatt c Deepti b Rajeshwari 46 (35b, 5x4, 2x6), Mithali Raj b Deepti 17 (22b, 1x4), Veda Krishnamurthy run out 0 (1b), Sushma Verma (not out) 0 (0b), Shikha Pandey b Deepti 0 (2b), Amelia Kerr b Deepti 0 (2b), Sushree Pradhan (not out) 2 (1b); Extras (lb-1, w-8) 9; Total (for seven wkts. in 18 overs): 113.
FALL OF WICKETS
1-25 (Matthews, 4.5), 2-63 (Shefali, 9.1), 3-11 (Wyatt, 16.5), 4-111 (Veda, 16.6), 5-11 (Mithali 17.1), 6-111 (Shikha, 17.3), 7-111 (Kerr, 17.5).
TRAILBLAZERS BOWLING
Selman 2-0-14-0, Ecclestone 4-0-13-0, Deepti 4-0-14-4, Rajeshwari 3-0-28-1, Taylor 2-0-24-0, Harleen 3-0-19-1.
Toss: Velocity.
Player-of-the-match: Danielle Wyatt.
Velocity won by three wickets with 12 balls remaining.