Renuka Singh's four-fer leads Railways to 13th Senior One Day title

With rain taking a break in Bangalore, Railways opted to field first against the first-time finalist Karnataka, as Renuka stuck with her fourth ball of the match to dismiss D Vrinda. She was on a hat-trick when she sent S Shubha and Veda Krishnamurthy to the pavilion in her second over. With G Divya’s wicket in the 8th over, Karnataka were left to ponder at 28 for 4.

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K Prathyoosha (16) and Niki Prasad (21) put up some fight against the experienced bowling attack but, those efforts were short-lived. Karnataka were bundled out for 74 in 38 overs as Meghna Singh, Sneh Rana, and Swagatika Rath chipped in with two wickets each.

In reply, S Meghana helped visitors to get off a decent start while Punam Raut struggled at the other end. Raut could not get herself going. Sahana Pawar brought her struggling innings to an end, trapping the India international in front for two runs off 30 balls. After getting dropped by Shreyanka Patil early in her innings, Meghana scored a patient knock of 36 off 43 including 5 fours and a six before being dismissed by Patil in the 15th over.

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Despite a  short rain break in between, experienced wicket-keeper Nuzhat Parween (20) paired with Dayalan Hemalatha (17) for the third wicket. The duo chased down the modest target put by Karnataka in the 23rd over to seal the 13th title for the Railways. Apart from Pawar and Patil, S Shubha and Chandu V were economical but, their tidy spells could only delay the inevitable. Meghana finished as the top runscorer in the tournament, amassing 388 runs in six innings at 67. 67, striking at 104.2.

Brief Score: Karnataka 74 all out in 38 overs (Niki Prasad 21, K Prathyoosha 12; Renuka Singh 14/4) lost to Indian Railways 76/2 in 22.2 overs (S Meghana 36, Nuzhat Parween 20; Shreyanka Patil 1/15) by 8 wickets