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 .
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