Women’s T20 Challenge: Velocity beats Supernova by 5 wickets. The first game of Women’s T20 Challenge and what a thriller: Velocity beats Supernova by 5 wickets.
Match Highlights (Velocity vs Supernova):
Women’s T20 Challenge opener was played between Supernova and Velocity on Wednesday, 4th November. The opener was hosted at Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah at usual timings of evening matches i.e.,19:30 IST (14:00 GMT), 18:00 LOCAL. The first match was one of the thrillers to watch. It was a low scoring game due to Sharjah pitches which tends to slow down as the tournament progresses.
Earlier, Velocity won the toss and opt to bowl first, keeping that dew factor in mind. The first breakthrough came in the 6th over, Kasperek dismissing Priya Punia (11 off 15). Rodrigues(7 off 8) became the second one to get dismissed in 8th over by Ekta Bisht. A good partnership between Athapaththu and captain Harmanpreet Kaur which took Supernova past 85 runs. The partnership was broken by Jahanara Alam picking Athapaththu(44 off 39) in 14 over.
Harmanpreet Kaur(31 from 27) looked in good touch but sent to the dugout by Jahanara Alam. S Siriwardene managed to score 18 from 21 balls and got run out. No other got to settle down at the end as a result Supernova put 126 – 8 in 20 overs.
Ekta Bisht was the pick of the bowler, she returned with the figures 3/22 in 4 overs while Jahanara Alam and Kasperek got two wickets each.
Velocity didn’t get a good start, Ayabonga Khaka dismissed Danielle Wyatt for a duck. Shafali Verma(17 from 11 balls) could not capitalize on her good start, she was removed by Ayabonga Khaka in the 3rd over, Captain Mitali Raj(7 off 19 balls) also dismissed cheaply by S Siriwardene in the 9th over.
Veda Krishnamurthy and Sushma Verma stitched a good partnership of another 30 runs, this partnership for the 4th wicket took Velocity past 60 runs in the 13th over. While Veda Krishnamurthy (29 from 28 balls) was dismissed by Radha Yadav in the 13th over.
Velocity got a match-winning duo when Sushma Verma and Sune Luus took Velocity closer to the total. They built a good another 50 runs stand and almost won the game for Velocity. But Sushma Verma(34 from 33 balls) was dismissed to Poonam Yadav on the last ball of the 18th over.
Sune Luus was unbeaten on quickfire 37 from 21 balls. Velocity reached a total of 129 – 5 in one ball prior. For Supernova, Ayabonga Khaka picked two wickets while, Radha Yadav, Poonam Yadav and Shashikala Siriwardene got one wicket each.
What a thriller we’ve witnessed here in Sharjah! 👌#Velocity pull off a 5-wicket over #Supernovas in the opening encounter of #JioWomensT20Challenge 🔝👏👌#SNOvVEL pic.twitter.com/jTB9yVgM1y
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) November 4, 2020
Post Match Presentation(Velocity vs Supernova):
Harmanpreet Kaur | Supernovas (losing) captain:
Yes, we were 20 runs short, but if you want to win the game, you have to keep bowling well. I think whatever we thought, we didn’t bowl according to our plans in the last couple of overs. They batted really well. Last four overs, we didn’t utilize it very well with the bat. We could’ve looked for the singles at least but we didn’t get those runs. Playing after a long time, it’s not easy for the players. If you keep winning then only you can survive in this tournament. We need to come up with a positive approach in the next game. There was dew in the last couple of overs, but I feel it’s part of the game and we didn’t win this because we didn’t bowl well in the last couple of overs.
Mithali Raj | Velocity (winning) captain:
It went very close. Definitely challenging. Most of the girls were part of the T20 World Cup but Jhulan and I are playing after the last edition. I was expecting 120-130, but you expect the openers to get you 30-40 runs. Losing Dani, our main player, there was some panic, but Veda and Luus have played really well and got us back on track. Such platforms help young players rub shoulders with seniors and their idols and that’s excellent exposure for them. It’s difficult to prepare for back-to-back games since it’s a 2 PM game tomorrow, but that’s how it is.
Sune Luus | Player of the Match (37* off 21):
It was a difficult task. The other team bowled very well, but Veda and Sushma batted really well, rotated the strike and hit boundaries too. Sushma told me every ball to stay here till the end. I didn’t find the surface that difficult, and it was coming on quite nicely. You saw the sixes that we managed to hit. I think it played nicely throughout the innings, so I think it depends on your style of batting whether the conditions suit you or not. We’re very grateful to the BCCI and the ICC, for organizing a tournament like this, especially in these crazy times.
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