Women’s T20 Challenge | Chamari Athapaththu powers Supernovas to their third successive final
Sri Lankan cricketer Chamari Athapaththu, who scored 48-ball 67, laid the foundation of a big score for Supernovas to help them reach the finals for the third consecutive time, defeating Trailblazers by 2 runs. The spinners did a fine job with Anuja Patil and Radha Yadav bowling economical spells.
Sri Lankan cricketer Chamari Athapaththu was the star of the match as she smashed a quick-fire half-century to power two-time champions Supernovas to their third successive final with a narrow two-run win over Trailblazers in a last-ball thriller at the Women’s T20 Challenge on Saturday. After the final league game, all the three teams ended with two points each but Supernovas and Trailblazers qualified due to their better net-rate than Velocity in the competition.
Opting to bat, Athapaththu was aggressive right from the start and ended up scoring 48-ball 67, which included five fours and four sixes. It was then followed by skipper Harmanpreet Kaur adding 31 off 29 to take the team to 146 for 6. In reply, Deepti Sharma with unbeaten 43, and Harleen Deol with 27 off 15 balls tried to set up the foundation for the chase but Trailblazers could only manage 144 for 5 in the end, courtesy of superb last over by left-arm spinner Radha Yadav (2/30).
For Supernovas, the spinners did a fine job with Anuja Patil (1 for 18), and Radha drying up runs in the middle while medium-pacer Shakera Selman picked up two wickets. Earlier, Athapaththu notched up the first fifty of the competition and added 87 for the opening wicket with Priya Punia (30 off 37). However, Trailblazers spinners Harleen (1/34) and Salma Khatun (1/25) pulled things back after 10 overs, giving away just 23 runs in next five overs.
Athapaththu reached her fifty from 37 deliveries with a powerful sweep off Harleen. For Trailblazers, experienced Jhulan Goswami was the best bowler with figures of one for 17 from 4 overs, while Harleen and Khatun picked up a wicket each. There were also three run-outs in Supernovas’ innings.
The Harmanpreet Kaur-led Supernovas will now take on Trailblazers captained by Smriti Mandhana in Monday’s final.
Brief Scores: Supernovas (Chamari Athapaththu 67 (48) and Jhulan Goswami 1/17) beat Trailblazers (Deepti Sharma 43 (40) and Radha Yadav 2/30)
Must be Virat Kohli's cousin! :P :P