Chamari Atapattu shines as Supernovas enter final
Sharjah: Sri Lanka’s Chamari Atapattu smashed a quick-fire half-century as two-time champions Supernovas reached their third successive final with a narrow two-run win over Trailblazers in a last-ball thriller at the Women’s T20 Challenge here on Saturday.
After the final league game, all the three teams ended with two points each but Supernovas (-0.054) and Trailblazers (+2.109) qualified due to their better net-rate than Velocity (-1.869) in the competition. The Harmanpreet Kaur-led Supernovas will now take on Trailblazers captained by Smriti Mandhana in Monday’s final.
Opting to bat, Atapattu laid the foundation with an aggressive 47-ball 67, which was studded with five fours and four sixes. Harmanpreet then played some big shots (31 off 29) to take the team to 146 for 6. In reply, Deepti Sharma (43 not out) and Harleen Deol (27 off 15 balls) took the chase deep but Trailblazers could only manage 144 for 5 in the end, courtesy a superb last over by left-arm spinner Radha Yadav (2/30).
For Supernovas, the spinners did a fine job with Anuja Patel (1 for 18) and Radha drying up runs in the middle while medium-pacer Shakera Selman picked up two wickets. Trailblazers were off to a good start to their chase with Deandra Dottin (27) and Smriti Mandhana (33) raising 43 for no loss in the first six overs. But Selman struck twice in the seventh over, first trapping Dottin infront of wicket and then cleaning up Richa Ghosh (4).
Deepti and Mandhana tried to repair the innings but Anuja, who came in for Pooja Vastrakar, caught and bowled the skipper in the 13th over to reduce Trailblazers to 83 for 3. Deepti then kept them in the hunt but Trailblazers could only score seven out of the 10 runs required in the last over.
Brief Scores: Supernovas 146/6 in 20 overs (Chamari Atapattu 56, Harmanpreet Kaur 31, Priya Punia 30) bt Trailblazers 144/5 in 20 overs (Deepti Sharma 43 no, Smriti Mandhana 33, Harleen Deol 27, Dottin 27; Radha Yadav 2/30, Seiman 2/31).
