Women's T20 Challenge 2019: Wyatt, Shafali shine as Velocity scrapes to three-wicket win
Follow the updates from the second clash of the Women's T20 Challenge 2019 between Smriti Mandhana's Trailblazers and Mithali Raj's Velocity.
Published : May 08, 2019 13:43 IST
Hello and welcome to Sportstar's live updates from the second clash of the Women's T20 Challenge between Trailblazers and Velocity.
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VELOCITY 83/1 in 11 overs: Wyatt is in the mood and doesn't want to be bogged down in the middle overs. She makes her intentions clear against Stafanie Taylor. A top-edge over point for four before a cleans strike over long-on for a six! Mithali, too, joins the party; sweeping Stafanie for a four. Just 30 required off 9 overs.
WICKET! A much-needed breakthrough for Velocity. Shafali comes down the tracks and gets a top-edge off Harleen Deol's off-spinners. She goes for 34 off 31 balls. Trailblazers 63/2 in 9.1 overs. Skipper Mithali Raj is the new batter.
Shafali is on the march here for Velocity. She now has five fours and a six, lofted drive over long-on off Gayakwad. Danielle Wyatt has come in and gone about her usual business. An extra cover drive followed by Shafali's six results in 15 runs off the Gayakwad over.
Dropped! Kalpana should have grabbed that one standing up to the bowling of Deepti, who had induced an edge off Matthews. Matthews doesn't make most of that reprieve . She is clean bowled three balls later, going for another cut shot. Velocity 25/1 in 5 overs
Hayley Matthews and Shafali Varma are quick off the blocks in chase of the paltry 113. Shafali with a couple of crunching boundaries, through mid-on and mid-wicket, off the bowling of Selman. Velocity 21 in 3 overs
Eight runs off the final over and Trailblazers end up with 112/6 in 20 overs. The Velocity will be pleased with that effort having conceded just 54 in the last 10 overs and taking four wickets.
Wicket! Bharati Fulmali goes for a cute paddle by exposing her stumps but misses to have her furniture rearranged.
Deepti perishes... Comes down the track and lofts one into the hands of the long-on fielder off thw bowling off Kerr. She goes for a run-a-ball 16. Deja-a-vu for Trailblazers as Harleen gets out in a similar manner the very next delivery. Trailblazers 100-5.
Trailblazers 95/2 in 17 overs: Deepti is providing Trailblazers the much-needed thrust for a challenging total. Harleen has began to cut loose as well as the pair takes 12 runs off Matthews' over.
Deepti goes down on her knee and smacks Sushree over mid-wicket to bring up the first boundary in 38 balls.
35 balls since the last boundary... Five more overs left for Trailblazers to set a challenging total. Harleen will be key as she bats on 29 off 32 balls. The ground-fielding by Velocity has been superb so far except the missed run-out chance.
Stafanie's misery comes to an end, offers a simple return catch to Sushree. The uncapped Indian will be relieved to see the back of her after having fluffed the run-out opportunity two overs earlier. Deepti Sharma plays out the remaining deliveries for no runs. Wicket-maiden for Sushree.
Stafanie really struggling here. Shikha bowls five dot balls on the trot to the Windies batswoman, who can't get bat on ball at the moment. She is batting on 5 of 17 balls. Trailblazers 68/2 in 13 overs
Comical from both sides. Harleen turns down Stafanie after having initially made the call for the run. Sushree Dibyadarshini at short mid-wicket picks up the ball and makes a dash for the bowler's end before deciding to underarm an effort onto the stumps and misses. Shikha Pandey is furious with the youngster! Stafanie sees the funny side of it.
Our correspondent P.K. Ajith Kumar updates: Just when I am about to tell you that Suzie Bates, the World's No. 1 batter in women's T20, is threatening to make a significant contribution, she is caught at long-on by Veda Krishnamurthy off Ekta Bisht. The Kiwi woman, who hit a cracking six over mid-wicket a few minutes ago, made 26 off 22 balls. She is replaced by Stefanie Taylor from the West Indies. The young Harleen Deol is looking good for the second game in a row
Trailblazers 60/2 in 10 overs. The timeout has been taken.
West Indies skipper Stafanie Taylor is in at No. 4. She has 2,748 runs in T20Is with 20 fifties.
WICKET! Ekta Bisht with the breakthrough as Trailblazers looked to be getting a move along here. Bates takes the aerial route by chasing a wider one but only offers an easy catch to Veda Krishnamurthy. Bates goes for 26. Trailblazers 51/2 in 9 overs
Bates welcomes Hayley Matthews into the attack with a sweeping six over mid-wicket! Trailblazers pockets 10 off the over.
Trailblazers 34/1 in 6 overs: 22 dot balls in the powerplay overs in the last game against Supernovas. Trailblazers batswomen have done marginally better today; 18 dot balls in the first six overs. Suzie Bates and Harleen have found the gaps well and rotated the strike.
Harleen Deol walks out to the middle with the PA system blaring out 'Eye of the tiger'. Trailblazers will require her to play another rearguard knock today. SHe gets off the mark with a boundary down to deep mid-wicket.
HUGEEE WICKET for Velocity! No heroics from Mandhana this time, she tries to run Shikha Pandey down to third man but only manages to get an edge to be caught behind by Sushma Verma. Trailblazers 15/1 in 2.1 overs
Trailblazers 10/0 in 1 over: A cracking start by Trailblazers as Mandhana cracks two successive boundaries off Shikha Pandey.
Our correspondent P.K. Ajith Kumar updates: "Heartening to see some spectators on the stands already, braving the unbearable weather. The players are out there on the field. It should be interesting to see if we will get a match as exciting as the first one."
Teams:
Trailblazers: Suzie Bates, Smriti Mandhana (capt), Harleen Deol, Stafanie Taylor, Deepti Sharma, Dayalan Hemalatha, Ravi Kalpana (wk), Sophie Ecclestone, Shakera Selman, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Bharati Fulmali
Velocity: Danielle Wyatt, Hayley Matthews, Mithali Raj (capt), Veda Krishnamurthy, Amelia Kerr, Sushma Verma (wk), Ekta Bisht, Komal Zanzad, Sushree Pradhan, Shefali Verma, Shikha Pandey
Toss: Mithali Raj wins the toss and Velocity opts to bowl.
Trailblazers is coming into the match after clinching the tournament opener by two runs against the Supernovas.
Our correspondent P.K. Ajith Kumar will be covering the match in Jaipur. Before that get started by reading his preview: The elections held here on Monday meant there was little publicity for the Women's T20 Challenge. Yet, in what was an encouraging sign, some 5,000 people turned up to watch the inaugural match at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.
They made a lot of noise, too.
The atmosphere wasn't anything like the one 10 days ago, when Rajasthan Royals played its last home match in the IPL this season — against Sunrisers Hyderabad — here. But nobody expected it to be so.
Exciting cricket
The crowd witnessed some excellent cricket, too. A brilliant 90 from the Smriti Mandhana, the stylish left-hand batter, and some astonishingly aggressive batting from Harmanpreet Kaur were the highlights. Smriti's innings proved to be the difference in the contest, as Trailblazers defeated Supernovas by two runs.
Trailblazers must be hoping for another fine show on Wednesday when it takes on the third team in the competition — Velocity — in the second match.
Among those who shone for Trailblazers on Monday were Harleen Deol with the bat, and Sophie Ecclestone, Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Jhulan Goswami with the ball. The stars who couldn't make much of an impact — such as Suzie Bates and Stafanie Taylor — will be keen to make amends.
The team will also be keen to improve its catching.
Hot weather
For Velocity, the contest on Wednesday will be the first of two matches to be played consecutively. It will be interesting to see how Mithali Raj's team copes up with the rigours, especially given the fact that its first contest will have to be played under the scorching sun — the temperature hovers around 40 degrees Celcius here.
Besides Mithali, Velocity has other fine batsmen in Danielle Wyatt, Amelia Kerr and Hayley Matthews. The bowling looks good too, with the presence of Shikha Pandey, Ekta Bisht, Jahanara Alam and Kerr.
The match starts at 3.30 p.m., and will be aired on Star Sports and Hotstar.
The teams (from)
Trailblazers: Smriti Mandhana (c), Bharti Fulmali, D. Hemalatha, Deepti Sharma, Harleen Deol, Jasia Akhtar, Jhulan Goswami, R Kalpana (wk), Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shakera Selman, Sophie Ecclestone, Stafanie Taylor and Suzie Bates.
Velocity: Mithali Raj (c), Amelia Kerr, Danielle Wyatt, Devika Vaidya, Ekta Bisht, Hayley Matthews, Jahanara Alam (Bangladesh), Komal Zhanzad, Shafali Verma, Shikha Pandey, Sushma Verma, Sushree Dibyadarshini and Veda Krishnamurthy.