Railways clinch their 12th Senior One Day title with seven-wicket win against Jharkhand

Half-centuries from Punam Raut and Sabbhineni Meghana and some clinical bowling performance helped Mithali Raj led Railways beat Jharkhand by seven wickets in the final of the Senior One-day Trophy and clinch the title on Sunday(April 4) at the Saurashtra Cricket Stadium in Rajkot.



Chasing just above three runs per over, Nuzhat Parween got out without troubling the scorers courtesy of a mix-up between the openers. However, the in-form Raut and Meghana ensured that they did not lose any wickets further.



The duo added 107 runs for the second wicket, with both of them bringing up their respective half-centuries. Raut was the first to get out as she was dismissed by Ravinder Devyani for 59 runs from 94 balls.



With the total being less, Railways need not had to worry about the scoring rate. Meghana fell shortly after to Devyani for a 67-ball 53. Mona Meshram and Sneh Rana made sure that they crossed the line in 37 overs without losing any further wickets.



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Earlier, opting to bat, Jharkhand got off to a horror start as they lost Niral Rashmi early to Ekta Bisht for 19 runs from 21 balls. Things did not get better when Meghna Singh got rid of Ritu Kumari and Radhey Sonia of successive deliveries. They were reduced to 30 for three after seven overs.



Joined by Durga Murmu, Indrani Roy, who is the leading run-scorer this season, tried to rebuild the innings. Together, they added 60 runs before the former got out to Sneh Rana for 31 runs from 74 balls. Roy did not last long after that as she fell one run short of a half-century to Rana.



Though skipper Mani Niharika and Dinesh Ashwani tried to put on a fight, the Railways bowlers kept pegging away with wickets. Jharkhand were eventually all out for 167 in 50 overs. Niharika remained unbeaten till the end with a 59-ball 39 as Rana finished with three for 33 in her ten overs.







Brief Scores:



Jharkhand 167 all out in 50 overs (Indrani Roy 49, Sneh Rana 3/33) lost to Railways 167/3 in 37 overs (Punam Raut 59, Ravinder Devyani 2/36) by seven wickets