Trailblazers beat Supernovas in low-scoring Women's T20 Challenge final after Smriti Mandhana's fifty
Captain Smriti Mandhana scored a crucial half-century as the Trailblazers won the Women's T20 Challenge for the first time with a 16-run victory over the Supernovas; Radha Yadav's 5-16 comes in vain for the defending champions
Tuesday 10 November 2020 06:23, UK
The Trailblazers claimed their first Women's T20 Challenge title after beating defending champions Supernovas in a low-scoring final.
Captain Smriti Mandhana scored a superb 68 from 49 balls as the Trailblazers made a strong start but a dramatic collapse of 8-47 late in the innings saw them finish on 118-8, having been 71-0 after 11 overs, with left-arm spinner Radha Yadav (5-16) claiming the tournament's first five-wicket haul.
Sophie Ecclestone (1-26) made the early breakthrough the Trailblazers needed defending such a low total, trapping the dangerous Chamari Athapaththu lbw in her first over and the Supernovas failed to gather any real momentum throughout the innings on a slow pitch in Sharjah.
Supernovas skipper Harmanpreet Kaur tried to hold the innings but was struggling with an injury and when she was bowled by Selma Khatun (3-18) in the 19th over, the Trailblazers were on the brink.
Ecclestone rounded out the game with a solid final over, denying the two-time champions a third trophy on the spin and leaving the Trailblazers to celebrate.
Having lost the toss, the Trailblazers were asked to bat first and when Mandhana thumped Anuja Patil for two fours and a six over long off to end the second over, few would have been expecting the low-scoring affair that followed.
Mandhana smashed another six over long off in the seventh over and although the Supernovas spinners came on to slow the Trailblazers' progress, the left-hander brought up her half-century from 38 balls with a four off Poonam Yadav before following it up with a six over the bowler's head.
The skipper's knock was in stark contrast to just any other in the game though, Poonam had removed Deandra Dottin in the same over Mandhana reached her fifty, the usually free-scoring West Indian only able to muster 20 from 32 balls.
Mandhana was eventually dismissed after some rapid glovework from Taniya Bhatia, stumped off Shashikala Siriwardene in the 15th over.
From the next 5.1 overs, the Trailblazers scored only 17 more runs and lost six wickets, five of them to Radha, who removed Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh in the 18th over and added three more, including Ecclestone in the last before a run out from the last ball.
A target of 119 was always more challenging that it appeared on paper and the Supernovas suffered a major blow in the second over when Ecclestone rapped the in-form Athapaththu on the pad. The on-field decision was not out but Trailblazers reviewed and the ball was shown to be cannoning into leg stump.
Runs were already proving hard to come by and when Deepti Sharma (2-9) removed Jemimah Rodrigues and Bhatia in consecutive overs, the Supernovas were in trouble at 37-3.
Kaur and Siriwardene added 37 for the fourth wicket and, despite the captain hobbling between the wickets, were beginning to up the run rate heading into the final stages of the game.
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However, Khatun came on and made the breakthrough, Siriwardene caught at short fine leg after top-edging a sweep and the runs dried up again.
While the Trailblazers had the edge, the game was still there to be won going into the 19th over with the Supernovas needing 28. Khatun bowled it and the off-spinner struck twice, the second crucially the wicket of Kaur, bowled for 30 from 36 balls before a run out further damaged the Supernovas.
That effectively ended the game as a contest and Ecclestone comfortably defended 26 in the last over, with celebrations beginning almost the moment the final ball was bowled.
