The Women’s T20 Challenge saw Smriti Mandhana’s Trailblazers beat Harmanpreet Kaur’s Supernovas in the final and lift their first trophy in Sharjah.

Harmanpreet won the toss and chose to field first on a slow wicket, a misjudgment on her part in the Trailblazers to 118/8 in 20 overs on a tough pitch.

Mandhana made 68 in 49 balls with 3 sixes and 5 fours, carrying her team’s batting on her shoulders, all while opposition spinner Radha Yadav claimed 5/16, the first-ever fifer in Women’s T20 Challenge history.

In reply, Harmanpreet played a captain’s knock of 30, while Bhatia, Rodrigues, and Siriwardene also tried to give her support. But Salma Khatun’s 3/18 and Deepti’s 2/8 proved to be too much for them as they managed just 102/7 in 20 overs and lost by 16 runs.

WT20 Challenge 2020: ‘Wanted to give our all due to COVID-19 uncertainty’, says Smriti Mandhana

During their innings, Thailand’s Natthakan Chantham provided those watching the match on the TV with a highlight reel worthy moment with her acrobatic fielding effort.

In the second over of Supernovas’ chase bowled by Sophie Ecclestone, Rodrigues edged the ball which ran towards the third man area. Chantham gave the ball a swift chase and then made an acrobatic dive near the boundary to save a certain boundary.

Her effort was compared with that of New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum, who was known for his acrobatic saves near the boundary, especially during the 2015 World Cup.

Chantham may not have gotten much to do with the bat, but being the first Thai cricketer to participate in such a prestigious league and her showing such commitment in the field was applause-worthy.

Here is the video: