Women’s T20 challenge had a great finale as it saw an exceptional inning from Harmanpreet Kaur and a last-ball four from young Radha Yadav to bag the victory for the Supernovas. A match with lots of ups and downs also gave chance to Velocity to grab the victory but finally, Supernovas came out triumphant.

The Collapse and Recovery

Supernovas won the toss and Lea Tahuhu started the proceedings with a wicket-maiden in the first over. In her second over she got the wicket of Shafali Verma. The 15-year old Shafali hit two boundaries prior to that and showed good promise. In the meantime, Danielle Waytt was also gone thanks to some smart bowling from Anuja Patil. Captain Mithali Raj also did not get going and once Veda Krishnamurthy and Mithali went on the same score Velocity were just 37 for loss of five wickets and a sub-hundred score looked a real possibility.

From there wicket keeper Sushma and New Zealand youngster Amelia Kerr held the innings together and added 71 runs in 11 overs. Kerr went for 36 off 38 with four boundaries and Sushma added another 12 runs in the last over to finish unbeaten with 40 off 32 balls with three fours and one six. Velocity could set a total of 121 for the loss of six wickets. Except for Tahuhu and Patil, Sophie Devine, Nat Sciver, and Poonam Yadav took one wicket each.

The Start-Stop Chase

Supernovas had an early blow as Chamari Atapattu was run out trying to take a third run in the second over. But the young Indian duo Priya Punia and Jemimah Rodrigues took the team total past 50. When it was looking like the chase was going smoothly, both the batter went back on back to back deliveries. Harmanpreet came but saw two more experienced players Nat Sciver and Sophie Devine going back to the pavilion in next three overs. At that point, with only Harmanpreet and bowlers to bat it looked like Velocity would win the final.

But Harman (51) played another special inning. She started to get going with a four and a six of Ekta Bisht in the 15th over. By 18th over she reached 49 off 32 balls. During all this time Lea Tahuhu could add only one run off five balls she faced. Harman reached her fifty in the 19th over and went to the last over on strike with a target of seven runs required in last over. In the first match she could almost chase 18 but this time she was holed out in the deep cover off the second ball of the over. Kerr bowled beautifully and was probably confident to restrict Radha Yadav but Yadav (10) took three consecutive two’s before hitting the last ball to cover boundary to give a fitting conclusion to an outstanding series.