IPL Supernovas defeated IPL Trailblazers by 3 wickets in a historic Women’s T20 challenge match played at Wankedhe Stadium, Mumbai just finished a few moments ago. Led by Smriti Mandhana, Trailblazers posted a decent total of 129 for 6. Chasing 130, Harmanpreet Kaur led side won the match in a thriller.
IPL Supernovas captain Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and elected to field. IPL Trailblazers openers Alyssa Healy and Smriti Mandhana put on 17 runs before both openers went in quick succession. Also, Beth Mooney could not score many runs. At the end of 6 overs, Trailblazers scored 43 for 3.
After the power play overs, Deepti Sharma and Suzie Bates added 32 runs for the 4th wicket. Deepti Sharma was dismissed for 21 runs. Then the young Jemimah Rodrigues and Suzie Bates steadied the innings with aggressive strokeplay. Both of them added 45 runs for the 5th wicket. Rodrigues was dismissed for 25. The New Zealand all-rounder Suzie Bates was the top scorer for Trailblazers with 32. Shikha Pandey contributed 14. Trailblazers posted 129 for 6 in 20 overs. For Supernovas, Megan Schutt and Ellyse Perry picked 2 wickets each.
Chasing 130, IPL Supernovas openers Mithali Raj and Danielle Wyatt started on an aggressive note with both playing attacking strokes. Mithali Raj was dismissed for 22 off 17 balls. At the end of 6 overs, IPL Supernovas scored 51 for 1.
After the power play overs, IPL Trailblazers bowlers made the life tough for Supernovas batsmen by picking up regular wickets. IPL Supernovas captain Harmanpreet Kaur scored 21 runs while Sophie Devine made 19.
The match went to the last ball and IPL Supernovas won the match by 3 wickets. For IPL Trailblazers, Poonam Yadav and Suzie Bates picked 2 wickets each.
The very first one-off Women's T20 challenge went down to the last over. What an experience this has been at Wankhede. Supernovas beat Trailblazers by 3 wickets. Smiles all around #IPLWomen pic.twitter.com/7WwnxEhAtu
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 22, 2018
IPL Supernovas 130 for 7 in 20 overs (Danielle Wyatt 24, Mithali Raj 22, Harmanpreet Kaur 21, Suzie Bates 2/16, Poonam Yadav 2/21) beat
IPL Trailblazers 129 for 6 in 20 overs ( Suzie Bates 32, Jemimah Rodrigues 25, Deepti Sharma 21, Megan Schutt 2/18, Ellyse Perry 2/20) by 3 wickets.
Harmanpreet Kaur: It wasn”t easy to bat on. I told the team to not take risks. We have focused a lot on our fielding. Spinners were the plan, particularly against Smirti. She”s already angry at me for that catch!
Meet the #Trailblazers #IPLWomen pic.twitter.com/qkymdykQ0b
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 22, 2018
Smriti Mandhana: I didn”t expect it to go to the last ball. The girls did brilliantly. When defending, you always think you”re 10 runs short. I thought the wicket was really slow. 145-150 would have been a really good score to defend. I”m not playing Playstation with Harmanpreet after she took that catch. Suzie really helped me with the captaincy. The other internationals were really helpful.
Suzie Bates is the Player of the Match: We were short with the bat, struggled through that middle order. Nice to keep the game close in the end. I was more of a bowling allrounder today.
https://twitter.com/IPL/status/998877300786511872
It could be a stepping stone for women’s IPL in the coming years. This was a close fought match as IPL Trailblazers was less experienced side.