India Blue clinched the Women's T20 Challenger Trophy from the hands of India Red in the finals by a slim margin of 4 runs at the KSCA Cricket Ground in Alur on Tuesday (August 21).
Anuja Patil led India Blue in absence of Mithali Raj, who was out injured. India Blue batted first after losing the toss and thanks to a 54-run partnership between Dayalan Hemalatha and Vellaswamy Vanitha, kept the scoring rate going.
Hemalatha scored 48 and Taniya Bhatia scored a quick 17-ball 28 to take the India Blue to the final score of 131/7. Shikha Pandey starred with the ball for India Red by picking 2/16 and limiting the team to a small total.
India Red started on a solid note as openers Deepti Sharma and Punam Raut added 87 runs at a run-a-ball rate. However, after 14 overs of no wicket, India Blue spinners Anuja Patil, Poonam and Radha Yadav brought the team back in the game.
Deepti fell first for 45 and Punam for 52 runs. Needing 17 off the last 10 deliveries, India Red could only manage 12, with Poonam picking up two wickets off successive deliveries in the final over to prevent any last-minute comeback from the opposition.
BRIEF SCORES:
India Blue 131/7 (D Hemalatha 48; Shikha Pandey 2-16) beat India Red 127/7 (P Raut 52 ; P Yadav 3-25) by 4 runs.