India Women Blue triumphs in T20 Challenger

Poonam Yadav (3-25) shines with ball as IWB stops IWR by four runs in the final on Tuesday.

Poonam Yadav (right) stood out with three wickets as IWB beat IWR by four runs at the Platinum Oval in Alur on Tuesday.

India Women Blue claimed the Women’s Senior T20 Challenger trophy beating India Women Red by four runs in a nail-biting final at the Platinum Oval in Alur on Tuesday.

Electing to bowl, IWR restricted IWB to 131 for the loss of seven wickets.

But the IWR batters — despite a solid start by Punam Raut (52 off 51; five fours and two sixes) and Deepti Sharma (45 off 44; five fours and a six) — collapsed in the middle overs to eventually miss the target by a whisker.

Sharma and Raut shared an 87-run stand for the first wicket, before S. Thakor caught the IWR skipper off Anuja Patil in the 15th over.

When Poonam Yadav got the wicket of Raut, caught by Patil, in the 18th over, IWR needed 20 off 14 balls. But it lost four wickets in 11 balls.

Yadav stood out with figures of 3-25.

Earlier, Dayalan Hemalatha (48 off 56; four fours), Vellaswamy Vanitha (28 off 25; two fours, two sixes) and Taniya Bhatia (28 off 17; three fours and a six) shone with the bat for IWB.

Brief scores: IWB 131/7 (D Hemalatha 48; S Pandey 2/16) beat IWR 127/7 (P Raut 52; P Yadav 3-25) by four runs