Welcome to Sportstar's live blog of the Women's T20 Challenge final between Supernovas and Velocity.
What a magnificent final we have been treated to. Supernovas win the match by four wickets off the last ball.
Super over for Supernovas? 1 RUN REQUIRED OF 1 BALL NOW!
Supernovas vs Velocity: Harmanpreet Kaur brings up her fifty off 34 deliveries. Two balls later the fifty-run partnership comes up as well. But wait, a twist in the tale as Harmanpreet departs for 51. Amelia Kerr gets her. Can the Velocity still do it? Seven required off four now.
Supernovas vs Velocity: That is massive! With those two monstrous sixes, skipper Harmanpreet has now moved on to 48 off 31 balls. 10 runs required off 12 balls now. Supernovas 112/5 after 18 overs.
Supernovas vs Velocity: After Natalie Sciver it is Sophie Devine! Plays the wrong line completely as the ball zips in towards the right-hander. Jahanara Alam is loving it. Supernovas has lost four wickets for 11 runs after the timeout. Supernovas 64/5 after 14 overs.
Supernovas vs Velocity: Castled! Bangladesh's Jahanara Alam removes Natalie Sciver cheaply. Supernovas 59/4 after 12 overs. The pressure is building now!
Supernovas vs Velocity: STUMPED! Priya Punia has to take the long walk back to the pavilion right after the strategic timeout! She dances out to take the aerial roue but she misses the line completely. Supernovas 53/3 after 10.1 overs.
Supernovas vs Velocity: And Jemimah Rodrigues goes! Amelia Kerr takes the big wicket: A lofted delivery from Kerr sees Jemimah try to go straight. She ends up handing Kerr a sitter instead. Supernovas 53/2 after 10 overs.
Supernovas vs Velocity: Supernovas' Priya Punia and Jemimah Rodrigues seem to be in no hurry to finish things here. Velocity at this point was at 43/5 compared to Supernovas' 48/1.
Supernovas vs Velocity: Ekta Bisht and Jahanara Alam curb the run flow a bit. Seven runs come from the sixth and seventh over. Supernovas 39/1 after 7 overs.
Supernovas vs Velocity: Matthews to continue. Jemimah joins the fun, cashes in with a cut shot for four. More damage : this time over long-on for four. 10 off the over. Ekta Bisht into the attack. Just one off the over.
Supernovas vs Velocity: Just two off Shikha's first over. Matthews to share the new ball. Supernovas can take it easy at the start. It's a modest score, however going into a shell early in the chase isn't advisable. Priya finds the gap through the off-side for her first boundary of the match. GONE! The duo tries to steal a third and Athapaththu pays the price. She's run out. Jemimah Rodrigues comies to the crease. Seven off the over. Shikha to continue. Priya gets two back-to-back boundaries. She follows it up with an equally delightful cover drive. 12 off it. Supernovas 21/1 after 3 overs.
Chamari Athapaththu and Priya Punia will open the innings, Shikha Pandey with the new ball.
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Supernovas vs Velocity: Natalie Sciver continues to bowl wide outside off stump and quite rightly has been punished this time. Sushma Verma goes big and we have the first maximum of the match! Velocity finishes at 121/6. Will that be enough to defend?
Supernovas vs Velocity: Velocity crosses the 100-run mark, the second fifty coming off 45 deliveries. And there! The 71-run partnership has been broken. Amelia Kerr has got to go. Kerr dances down and tries to go for the covers as Poonam lures her in with a lofted delivery. Harmanpreet Kaur takes a sitter. Velocity 108/6 after 19 overs.
Our correspondent P. K. Ajith Kumar updates from Jaipur: A combination of fine bowling and poor batting has had Velocity struggling, after being put in. There is fine bit of recovery underway though at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, where the crowd is estimated to be close to 15,000. That’s great attendance indeed. Out there in the middle, Amelia Kerr, a superstar in the making from New Zealand, and wicket-keeper Sushma Verma, are staging a magnificent fightback to keep their team in the game. Velocity is 87 for five in the 16th over.
Supernovas vs Velocity: Amelia Kerr and Sushma Verma still trying to get a feel of things at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. One of them must look to go for the big shots now. Velocity 84/5 after 15 overs.
Supernovas vs Velocity: Poonam Yadav into the attack. Kerr has swept one away for four. Seven off the over and Velocity has limped to 50 at the half-way stage. Devine to continue. Three off the over. Poonam to continue. Kerr gets a much-needed boundary. Good over for Velocity, 10 from it. Velocity 63/5 after 12 overs.
Supernovas vs Velocity: Sophie Devine has been introduced into the attack. Veda has been stumped and wickets just keep falling for Velocity. Sushma Verma joins Mithali. Just two off the over. Natalie Sciver will roll her arm. Mithali departs. Oh Dear, that's a huge blow for Velocity. Amelia Kerr joins Sushma. Second wicket maiden of the match. Tahuhu to bowl out. Brilliant save from Priya Punia saves a certain boundary. Just two for Velocity. Six runs off the over. Velocity 43/5 after 9 overs.
Supernovas vs Velocity: Veda Krishnamurthy comes to the crease. Patil to continue. Mithali plays a late cut for four and follows it up with a glorious cover drive. Eight off the over. Tahuhu is back for her third. Veda gets a
boundary four byes. She gets off the mark now, with a strike to sweeper cover. Eight off it in the end. Radha Yadav has been introduced into the attack. Veda, you beauty: steps out and carves it over sweeper cover for four. Five off it.
Velocity 35/3 after 6 overs.
Supernovas vs Velocity: Hayley Matthews and Shafali Verma to open for Velocity. Lea Tahuhu to start the proceedings with the new ball. What a start! Tahuhu strikes, gets rid of Matthews with the second ball of the match. Danielle Wyatt comes to the crease. A wicket maiden to start the final. Anuja Patil to share the new ball. GONE! Wyatt has been stumped and Velocity are in trouble. Mithali Raj, right-hander, comes to the crease. Just three runs and a wicket off it. Tahuhu to continue. Shafali launches this over mid-on for the first boundary of the match. Much-needed one, and follows it up with another hit to the fence. GONE! Tahuhu gets her revenge and Shafaliu has to depart. Velocity 14/3 after 3 overs.
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TOSS UPDATE: Supernovas has won the toss and opted to field.
Supernovas (Playing XI): Priya Punia, Chamari Athapaththu, Jemimah Rodrigues, Sophie Devine, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Natalie Sciver, Taniya Bhatia(w), Lea Tahuhu, Anuja Patil, Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav
Velocity (Playing XI): Shafali Verma, Hayley Matthews, Danielle Wyatt, Mithali Raj(c), Veda Krishnamurthy, Sushma Verma(w), Shikha Pandey, Jahanara Alam, Amelia Kerr, Devika Vaidya, Ekta Bisht
Velocity's 15-year-old opener is all set to take the crease against the Supernovas in the Women's T20 Challenge final. Here's a sneak peek into her journey| 15-year-old Shafali Verma, a Tendulkar fan, makes a mark in Women's T20 Challenge 2019
Mithali: "It's another opportunity for the young girls to do well on a big stage. We would have bowled first as well. We need to put up a good total around 140 plus because they have good batting depth."
Harmanpreet: "We are bowling first. I think the grass cover is just a show off. I don't think it helps the pacers that much. Only the spinners are doing well. We are playing the same XI."
As we warm up to the toss, here's what six top women overseas players had to say about a full-fledged IPL-style women's league is long overdue| Overseas players keen on Women's IPL
Over the last few days, a lot of people made their way to the Sawai Mansingh Stadium to watch India’s finest women cricketers play along with some of the biggest stars from across the globe.
Here's our correspondent P.K. Ajith Kumar's preview:
Over the last few days, a lot of people made their way to the Sawai Mansingh Stadium to watch India’s finest women cricketers play along with some of the biggest stars from across the globe.
If the way the cricket fans of this beautiful city – which boasts architecture as stunning as most other places in India – have responded to three league matches of the Women’s T20 Challenge is anything to go by, there could be full house for the final on Saturday.
In what promises to be a cracker of a contest, both Supernovas and Velocity have played some good cricket over the last few days.
But, the game they played on Thursday night wasn’t particularly memorable for the way it finished.
Needing to achieve a net run-rate better than that of the third team in the competition, Trailblazers, Velocity played it safe.
Mithali Raj’s girls decided not to go for the target set by Supernovas, after it lost the wicket of their hard-hitting one drop from England, Danielle Wyatt.
No doubt it is Supernovas that has played better cricket. Harmanpreet Kaur’s girls had fought hard in their opening match, too, before going gone down by just two runs to Smriti Mandhana’s Trailblazers.
Harmanpreet was largely responsible for taking her side close, with her ferocious hitting in the final over.
Supernovas' batting has a lot of firepower in fact, with the presence of players like Jemimah Rodrigues, Sophie Devine and Chamari Atapattu.
For its big shots, Velocity would be looking to batters like Wyatt, Hayley Matthews, Amelia Kerr and the 15-year-old Shafali Varma, who alone showed what a competition like this could do to Indian women’s cricket.
Match starts at 7.30 PM. Stay tuned for live updates.
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