Batters day in Senior T20 as Jemimah, Harmanpreet, Taniya, Yastika, Sushma make merry

Senior T20 Trophy on Thursday (April 21). Jemima Rodrigues scored 93 for Mumbai, only to be pipped by twin fifties from Taniya Bhatia and Harmanpreet Kaur. Yastika Bhatia built on her good form to take Baroda to another win, while Odisha kept their unbeaten run intact with three wins from as many matches.

In the Elite Group C match, Sushma Verma held her nerve to take Himachal Pradesh over the line against Karnataka as the latter succumbed to their third defeat in as many matches.

Jemimah vs Harmanpreet

Clash between Rodrigues and Harmanpreet was the most anticipated one on the fifth morning of the tournament and neither of them disappointed.

Opting to bat first, Riya Chaudhari and Rodrigues started well for Mumbai and added 83 runs for the opening wicket. Even though Chaudhari fell to Harmanpreet, Mumbai skipper kept going for her shots and looked like getting a century at one stage. Eventually her innings came to an end at 93 from 54 balls with Komalpret Kour accounting for her in the final over , Rodrigues hit 11 fours and three sixes in the process.

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Chasing a competitive total, Punjab were off to a whirlwind start with Taniya and Ridhima Aggarwal adding 43 runs in no time. Coming into batting at four, Harmanpreet made sure that the momentum gave Taniya was intact and hit eight boundaries on her way to an unbeaten 57 off just 36 balls. She had Pragati Singh for company with a 14-ball 21.

Yastika Bhatia continues to impress

In the Baroda vs Uttar Pradesh fixture in the Elite Group D, Baroda were chasing a moderate target after Uttar Pradesh scored 120 for 8 from their 20 overs.

Playing at number three, Yastika reined her attacking instincts at times to bat through the innings to take Baroda over the line the final over. The southpaw hit only six boundaries during her 62-ball knock. She remained unbeaten on 72 when they won the match with two balls to spare.

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Skipper Sushma gets Himachal over the line

In Rajkot, after putting Karnataka into bat in the Elite Group C fixture, Verma and Co. restricted Veda Krishamurthy’s side to just 106 for 6. At one stage Karnataka were 24 for 3, but they recovered thanks to S Shubha’s patient 49 and Niki Prasad’s 28.

In the chase, Verma guided her side through the chase with a patient knock of 52 not out from 45 balls. She had Nikita S Chauhan for company, who scored 34 off 44 balls. The game down to the first ball of the last over, but the experienced Verma made sure that Himachal Pradesh got home.

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Unbeaten Odisha

Odisha continued their impressive run to go to the top of the table in the Elite Group B with their third win from as many matches. Once again it was down to their bowlers as they skittled Tripura out for 85.

Three bowlers – Sujata Mallik, Rameswari Naik, and India A off-spinner Sushree Dibyadarshini – took two wickets each during Odisha’s bowling efforts.

In reply, with handy contributions from top three comprising of Madhuri Meheta, Kajal Jena, and Sarita Meher, Odisha rode to a clinical win with an over to spare.

Jharkhand also continued their unbeaten run in the group with an emphatic nine-wicket win over Chhattisgarh.

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Brief Scores:

Hyderabad 113/6 in 20 overs (G Trisha 50, Keerthy Reddy 38; Suman Meena 2/21, Sonal Kalal 2/21) lost to Rajasthan 114/3 in 19.2 overs (S R Jat 45, S P Kumawat 33*) by 7 wickets

Andhra Pradesh 99/10 in 19 overs (N Anusha 45; Mrudhula V S 2/25, Darsana Mohanan 2/27) lost to Kerala 100/6 in 19.5 overs (Akshaya A 50, Sajana S 24; C H Jhansi Lakshmi 1/19) by 4 wickets

Chhattisgarh 56/9 in 20 overs (Shanti Kumari 2/9, Nidhi B 2/9) lost to Jharkhand 57/1 in 12.4 overs (Mamtha Kanojia 27*, Durga Murmu 27*) by 9 wickets

Tripura 85/10 in 19.2 overs (M K Rabidas 26; Rameswari Naik 2/8, Sushree Dibyadarshini 2/17) lost to Odisha 91/3 in 19 overs (Madhuri Meheta 28, Kajal Jena 25) by 7 wickets

Madhya Pradesh 121/6 in 20 overs (Pooja Vastrakar 39, Aashna Patidar 27; Priyanka Guleria 3/14) beat Chandigarh 107/10 in 19.4 overs (Amanjot Kaur 23; Nikita Singh 3/14, Priti Yadav 2/21) by 14 runs

Karnataka 106/6 in 20 overs (S Shubha 49; Sonal S Thakur 2/26) lost to Himachal Pradesh  109/3 in 19.1 overs (Sushma Verma 52*; Nikita S Chauhan 34; C Prathyusha 3/10) by 7 wickets

Uttarakhand 84/8 in 20 overs (Reena Jindal 26; Renuka Chaudhari 3/14, Muskan Vasava 2/14) lost to Gujarat 88/2 in 14.4 overs (Simran 34, Sarvi 32; Reena Jindal 2/16) by 8 wickets

Uttar Pradesh 120/8 in 20 overs (Shipra Giri 36, Muskan Malik 27; Radha P Yadav 3/20, Tarannum Pathan 2/16) lost to Baroda 121/4 in 19.4 overs (Yastika Bhatia 72*; Rashi Kanojiya 2/22) by 6 wickets

Assam 70/8 in 20 overs (Tithi Das 2/6, Mita Paul 1/3) lost to Bengal 71/2 in 15.4 overs (Deepti Sharma 35, Mita Paul 27) by 8 wickets

Mumbai 156/6 in 20 overs (Jemimah Rodrigues 93, Riya Chaudhari 39; Kanika Ahuja 1/4 ) lost to Punjab 160/3 in 17.3 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 57*, Taniya Bhatia 51) by 7 wickets

Mizoram 138/6 in 20 overs (Shweta 92;  Shivi Yadav 2/18) beat Arunachal Pradesh 100/5 in 20 overs (Megha Sharma 31*, Runa 28; Tarang Jha 2/21) by 38 runs

Sikkim 67/7 in 20 overs (Purni Maya Guruny 19; Sarla Devi 3/17) lost to Jammu & Kashmir 73/2 in 15.3 overs (Sarla Devi 24, Bushra Ashraf 18*) by 8 wickets