Sharjah: Sushma Verma (34) and Sune Luus played (37 not out) useful knocks as Velocity defeated Supernovas by five wickets in the Women’s T20 Challenge at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.
Chasing 127, Velocity got off to the worst start possible as Danielle Wyatt was sent back to the pavilion by Ayabonga Khaka in the very first over of the innings. Velocity was given yet another big blow in the third over as Shafali Verma (17) was dismissed by Khaka, reducing Velocity to 17/2.
Mithali Raj and Veda Krishnamurthy stitched together a brief partnership of 21 runs, but the stand came to an end in the 9th over as Shashikala Siriwardene sent Mithali (7) back to the pavilion, reducing Velocity to 38/3.
Veda Krishnamurthy and Sushma Verma kept on moving the scoreboard, but as soon as Velocity started gaining an upper hand, Veda (29) was sent back to the pavilion by Radha Yadav, reducing the side to 65/4 in the 13th over.
Sushma Verma and Sune Luus then gave Velocity’s innings the much-needed momentum by stitching a partnership of 51 runs. But with 11 runs away from the target, Verma (34) lost her wicket in the penultimate over.
In the end, Luus took Velocity over the line by five wickets with one ball to spare.
Earlier, Ekta Bisht’s three-wicket haul helped Velocity to restrict Supernovas to 126/8 in the allotted twenty overs.
Sent into bat first, Priya Punia and Chamari Athapaththu provided a steady start to Supernovas as both batters put on 30 runs for the first wicket, but Velocity came back strongly in the sixth over as Leigh Kasperek dismissed Punia (11).
In the eighth over, Jemimah Rodrigues (7) was clean bowled by Ekta Bisht, reducing Supernovas to 42/2. Harmanpreet then joined Athapaththu in the middle and the duo put on 47 runs for the third wicket.
However, in trying to accelerate the innings, Athapaththu (44) was sent back to the pavilion by Jahanara Alam in the 14th over, reducing Supernovas to 89/3. In the 17th over, Alam then dismissed Harmanpreet (31), putting Supernovas in a spot of bother at 111/4.
In the last three overs, Supernovas managed to add just ten more runs to their total and Velocity picked up four wickets to restrict the Harmanpreet-led side to a score of less than the 130-run mark. For Velocity, Ekta Bisht scalped three wickets while Alam and Kasperek took two wickets each.
Brief Scores: Velocity 129/5 (Sushma Verma 34, Sune Luus 37*; Ayabonga Khaka 2/17) defeat Supernovas 126/8 (Chamari Athapaththu 44, Harmanpreet Kaur 31, Ekta Bisht 3/22) by five wickets.
