Velocity, in a contradiction of their team name, were anything but quick for most part of their chase in the first match of the 2020 Women’...
Velocity, in a contradiction of their team name, were anything but quick for most part of their chase in the first match of the 2020 Women’s T20 Challenge on Wednesday.
Chasing 127 after a solid death bowling show restricted Supernovas, the Mithali Raj-led team were 65/4 at the end of the 13th over; Harmanpreet Kaur and Co looked set for their third win over Velocity in the exhibition tournament.
But in what was a remarkable fightback, Sushma Verma (34 off 33) and Sune Luus (37 off 21) put together a game-changing partnership of 51 off 35 balls for the fifth wicket to seal a five-wicket win to mark the return of Indian women’s cricket.
Given that this was the first match in over seven months for most players (even longer for some), certain lapses were to be inevitable… the odd misfield, the error in timing the ball, perhaps even a one-sided game. But, despite all that, the players from both sided served up a nail-biter that went to the last over.
Unlikely heroes
It was an unlikely win earned by unlikely heroes in the end.
Mithali chose to bowl first given the dew factor in Sharjah. First, the big-hitting Chamari Athapaththu and Harmanpreet built on their steady start and...
