Riding on an unbeaten 66-ball 84 by opener Harleen Deol, Himachal Pradesh edged out Goa by three runs in a thriller in Surat in the Senior Women’s T20 League to reach the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Elsewhere, captain Shafali Verma struck another blistering half century as Haryana chased down 110 in the 12th over against Jharkhand. Kerala defeated Nagaland in the pre-quarterfinals as the last eight lineup was confirmed on Thursday.
Asked to bat first by Goa at the CK Pithawala Ground in Bhimpore, Surat, Himachal got a massive 90-run partnership for the first wicket thanks to Deol and Nikita Chauhan (43 off 37). SM Singh, in at No 3, didn’t last long but Deol then got together with skipper Sushma Verma to give the team a strong finish.
Deol hit 10 fours and two sixes in her brilliant innings, where she accelerated brilliantly in the latter part, and set the win up for Himachal.
Goa captain Shikha Pandey, who went wicketless in her four overs, led the fight back with a stunning 77 off 50 that nearly pushed her side to a famous win. In at No 5 at 24/3, she hit nine fours and three sixes in her knock but narrowly missed out on taking her team over the line. Tejashwini Duragad (40 off 31) was the other key contributor with the bat for Goa who lost steam in the last couple of overs. Deol’s wicket of Pandey proved to be a turning point.
Right-arm medium pacer Anisha Ansari, with figures of 3/22 from her four overs, was the pick of the bowlers for Himachal.
Akshaya, Shafali shine
Opener Akshaya A struck an unbeaten 57 off 56 to help Kerala defeat Nagaland by seven wickets in the pre-quarterfinals at the Lalbhai Contractor Stadium in Surat.
Electing to bat first, Nagaland could only manage a total of 116/5 in their 20 overs as Darsana Mohanan picked picked 2/17 from three overs for Kerala. Opener Kiran Prabhu Navgire scored 56 off 44 for Nagaland to continue her stunning form in the tournament but didn’t get much support from the rest of the batting order.
In reply, Akshaya held firm for Kerala and got contributions from the rest of the top order to take the team over the line with 12 balls to spare.
In the second pre-quarterfinal played at the Lalbhai Contractor Stadium on Thursday, Shafali smashed an unbeaten 66 runs off 33 balls to help Haryana beat Jharkhand by nine wickets.
Opting to field first, Haryana restricted Jharkhand to 110/8 with Shafali being the pick of the bowlers too – taking 2/16 from four overs.
It then took Haryana just 11.2 overs to chase down the target as openers Shafali and Reema Sisodia (43 off 33) added a 102-run partnership for the first wicket. Shafali smacked nine fours and three sixes in her knock.
Quarterfinals lineup
Baroda vs Mumbai (April 29)
Maharashtra vs Himachal (April 30)
Railways vs Kerala (April 30)
Odisha vs Haryana (April 30)
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