Smriti Mandhana captained treblers have ensured their place in the finals of the Women’s T20 Challenge tournament with a nine-wicket win over Velocity and the second team of the final will be decided by their match with Supernovas on Saturday. The final will be held on November 9.
The trebleblazers have raised their net run rate to a plus with a single win and are on top in the table of three teams. Velocity has played both their league matches and is in second place. The last two-time champion team Supernovas lost their first match to Velocity and are in third place.
Supernovas will not only win the match with the treblers but also have to keep their net run rate better. In the event of Supernovas winning, the three teams will get two points each and then the run rate will decide which other team of the final will be.
Even if the treblers lose, his run rate is so good that there will be no threat to his position in the final. The net run rate will decide the second finalist between Velocity and Supernovas if the treblers lose. But if the Trailblazers win, Velocity will get entry into the final and the last two-time champion Supernovas will be eliminated.
The Trailblazers had won a one-sided victory by scoring 49 for one in 7.5 overs after stacking Velocity’s team on Thursday for just 47 runs in 15.1 overs. Sophie Ecclestone took four wickets for just nine runs. For Velocity, young opener Shefali Verma had scored the maximum 13 runs while Shikha Pandey scored 10 runs and Leg Kesparek scored 11 not out. Velocity’s captain Mithali Raj said that after this crushing defeat, her team will prepare for the next match, taking lessons from the mistakes of this match.
Velocity had earlier defeated Supernovas by five wickets with the perfect performance of left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht (3 for 22) and excellent innings by Sushma Verma (34) and Sune Luce (37 not out). Velocity held Supernovas to a score of 126 for eight and then scored a thrilling victory by remaining 129 for five in 19.5 overs. But Velocity’s team could not sustain this performance against the treblers.