Richa Ghosh, Jhumia Khatun knock Punjab out; Kerala, Himachal progress

Kerala and Himachal Pradesh qualified for the knockouts of the Senior T20 Trophy after defeating Hyderabad and Chandigarh respectively in their final group stage matches on Sunday. Punjab, however, failed to qualify after suffering a 43 run loss to Bengal.

Kerala vs Hyderabad

Kerala’s last group stage match was a must win for them and their bowlers stepped up after captain Sajana Sajeevan opted to bowl first. Keerthy James picked two wickets for 11 runs as Hyderabad only managed 99/5 in their 20 overs. Sajana then took charge of the chase and remained unbeaten on 32 as Kerala won with eight wickets in hand.

Himachal Pradesh vs Chandigarh

Having already defeated Delhi, all Himachal needed to qualify was a win against Chandigarh by any margin. They managed that without breaking too much of a sweat as Chandigarh could only muster 104 after opting to bat first. There was a minor hiccup in the chase as the in form Harleen Deol was dismissed for a duck but the other opener, Nikita Chauhan, remained unbeaten on 52 and saw the chase home as Himachal won by seven wickets.

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Bengal vs Punjab

Punjab’s qualification hopes came to an end after they suffered a big 43 run loss against Bengal, who were already out of contention. Bengal’s win meant that Mumbai and Haryana progressed from the Group. Bengal piled up a massive total of 173 as India wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh found form with a classy innings of 75. Punjab were given a good start by Taniya Bhatia and Ridhima Aggarwal but their chase petered out after Bhatia and captain Harmanpreet Kaur were dismissed off successive deliveries by Saika Ishaque. Jhumia Khatun then went on to take a hat-trick as Bengal finally put together a complete performance.

Brief Scores:

Hyderabad 99/5 in 20 overs (Keerthi Reddy 28; Keerthy James 2/11) lost to Kerala 103/2 in 17.1 overs (Jincy George 36; G Trisha 1/13) by eight wickets

Chhattisgarh 92/6 in 20 overs (Shivi Pandey 38*; Nikita Debnath 3/18) lost to Tripura 96/7 in 19.5 overs (Jhumki Debnath 30; Urmila Harina 3/17) by three wickets

Chandigarh 104/7 in 20 overs (Monika Pandey 32; NM Chauhan 2/13) lost to Himachal Pradesh 105/3 in 14.2 overs (Nikita 52*; Rajni Devi 2/21) by seven wickets

Uttar Pradesh 152/3 in 20 overs (Muskan Malik 57; Anjali Kathait 1/19) beat Uttarakhand 44/10 in 15.5 overs (Raghvi 18; Kshama Singh 3/12) by 108 runs

Bengal 173/4 in 20 overs (Richa Ghosh 75; Neelam Bisht 2/29) beat Punjab 130/10 in 14.5 overs (Ridhima Aggarwal 37; Jhumia Khatun 4/25, Titas Sadhu 3/16) by 43 runs

Jammu & Kashmir 136/3 in 20 overs (Rubia Syed 57; Runa 1/15) beat Arunachal Pradesh 100/9 in 20 overs (Megha Sharma 36*; Nadia Chowdhary 3/17) by 36 runs