Supernovas seal final-ball win over Trailblazers in historic Women's IPL match
Tuesday 22 May 2018 21:05, UK
The historic exhibition Women's IPL match had a nail-biting finish as Harmanpreet Kaur's Supernovas sealed a final-ball three-wicket win over the Trailblazers.
The two teams, made up of internationals from India, England, Australia and New Zealand faced each other at the Wankhede Stadium ahead of the clash between the Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings.
Seen as a possible precursor to a Women's IPL in 2019, Pooja Vastrakar stuck the winning runs as the Supernovas chased down 130, New Zealand captain Suzie Bates attempted to defend three runs off the final over of the match.
Despite the match being a low-scoring affair, the crowd were entertained, with England T20 opener Danni Wyatt striking two fours and a six as she made a quickfire 24.
After Kaur won the toss, she put Indian teammate Smriti Mandhana's Trailblazer into bat and the top-ranked Women's T20 bowler Megan Schutt struck early as Wyatt took a simple catch at cover to get rid of Alyssa Healy.
Bates top-scored with 32 off 37 balls but managed just two boundaries in her innings as Ellyse Perry took 2-20 to help restrict the Trailblazers to 129-6.
Indian captain Mithali Raj (22) and Wyatt shared an opening stand of 47 for the Supernovas as their chase got off to the perfect start before the former chipped international teammate Ekta Bisht to Lea Tahuhu at midwicket.
Fellow spinner Poonam Yadav dismissed Wyatt before taking the prized wicket of Australian captain Meg Lanning (21) and, faring better with the ball, Bates bowled Sophie Devine and had captain Kaur caught at long-on, as the Supernovas began to wobble.
With three needed off the final over, Bates conceded just two off the first five balls but Vastrakar managed to skew the ball past midwicket to seal an entertaining victory.
