With an unbeaten century, captain Smriti Mandhana helped India Blue to an eight-wicket win over India Red in the opening match of the Women’s Challenger Trophy in Indore. After restricting the opposition to a modest 199, the India Blue captain helped her team chase down the 200-run target with 23 balls to spare.
Asked to bat, India Red openers - Priya Punia and Deepti Sharma - bided their time at the crease in an effort to lay a solid foundation for their team. Punia, who had done the bulk of the scoring as they steadily put together a 42-run stand, departed hitting Tanushree Sarkar towards mid-wicket for 27. Deepti then helped add another 33 runs to the tally with Mithali Raj until being run out by Mona Meshram. This was the first of the run outs that affected India Red’s total as the innings progressed.
B Fulmali followed her back 14 runs later. Stepping out of the crease the batter went down on one knee as she looked to sweep Radha Yadav and was stumped for three. In her next over, the bowler dismissed Neha Tanwar to leave the side on 91 for four.
Mithali then found an ally in Sushma Verma to stem the fall of wickets and rebuild the innings. The pair added 61 runs for the fifth wicket until the wicketkeeper-bat departed taking the aerial route to Meshram. 20 runs later, Rajeshwari Gayakwad had the top-order bat stumped to leave India Red stumbling on 172 for six. The departure of the captain was followed by a lower-order collapse. While Gayakwad also accounted for Kanwer, Sukanya Parida, Priyanka Priyadarshini and Poonam Yadav were run out looking to sneak in singles.
Opening the innings with Mandhana, Vanitha VR took the attack to the India Red bowlers to get India Blue off to a good start. She blasted 42 off 45 balls until being sent back by Poonam Yadav. With India Blue on 67 for one, N Chaudhary joined the captain in the middle to keep the chase on course. The duo had taken the team 106 when Chaudhary was run out by Mithali.
Mandhana and Meshram then hit the bowlers to overhaul the target. They scored freely as they closed in on the total. The skier by the skipper off Kanwar was dropped by Fulmali while Mandhana was on 94. A bit later, the captain completed her century and took the team to the finish line.
Scorecard -
http://www.bcci.tv/senior-womens-cricket-challenger-trophy-one-day-match-2017-18/match/01
