Yastika Bhatia, Jasia Akhter and Renuka Singh produced impactfull performances as India D beat India A by seven wickets in the final to lift the Women’s T20 Challenger Trophy, here on Saturday.
Chasing 145, Bhatia and Akhter set the platform with their 70-run opening partnership. Akhter, who was the aggressor, hitting three fours and as many sixes in her 38-ball 47, got out in the 11th over.
The next few batters Jemimah Rodrigues (2) and D. Hemalatha (4) couldn’t do much. However, Bhatia was in control and brought up her half-century in 41 balls. India D needed 38 runs in the last five overs, which Bhatia (80 not out off 56) and Sushma Verma (13 not out off 10) knocked off with an over to spare.
Earlier, put into bat, India A didn’t have a great start, with Renuka trapping Shivali Shinde lbw in the first over. Soon after, she dismissed Disha Kasat too, reducing India A to 25 for 2 in the fifth over.
From there on, wicketkeeper-opener Nuzhat Parween (50) and Harleen Deol (61) stabilised the innings, taking the side to 52/2 by the tenth over. The next five overs produced 46 runs as both batters scored their fifties — Deol in 40 balls and Parween in 42.
They added 105 for the third wicket, in 13.1 overs, before Renuka broke the stand with Parween’s wicket. Deol fell in the last over of the innings to Rajeshwari Gayakwad, who also had Sajeevan Sajana stumped three balls later.
Brief scores: India A 144/5 in 20 overs (Deol 61, Parween 50; Renuka 3-24, Gayakwad 2-21) lost to India D 148/3 in 19 overs (Bhatia 80 not out, Akhter 47, Poonam 1-25) by seven wickets
