Tamil Nadu women crush Tripura in T20 tie

TN captain N Niranjana had no hesitation in batting first after winning the toss and her decision was vindicated as TN set the visiting team a challenging target of 121. In reply, Tripura was restricted to 91 for eight on the back of an excellent display on the field by the host’s bowlers. 

Tripura never looked like chasing that score as TN bowlers applied pressure from both ends. With Tripura batswomen finding it hard to score runs, they attempted a few aerial shots that only landed in the hands of the fielders. That coupled with a terrible running between the wickets saw the visitor lose two crucial wickets to run outs just as the chase was gathering steam. 

TN's L Nethra had a major impact on the result as her all-round heroics ensured a facile win for her team. Off-spinner Nethra contained the flow of runs and then spun a web to finish with figures of four for 22. Nethra was also Tamil Nadu's highest scorer with a quick-fire 40 runs that consisted of four boundaries. 

Along with captain Niranjana 35 (31b, 5x4), Nethra added a vital 46 runs off 41 balls that enabled TN to cross the 100-run mark. When things got tough for TN in the final overs, V Vilasini entertained with a breezy cameo of 28 that came off only 24 balls. Her innings was studded with four hits to the fence. 

Tamil Nadu's fielding was impressive and wicket-keeper Namita Ojha did a splendid job behind the stumps as she whipped off the bails in a flash to effect two brilliant stumpings and also had a hand in one of the two run-out's. Tamil Nadu's dominance was absolute and it will head into its match against Punjab on Sunday with a lot of confidence. 

In another encounter at the Murugappa Grounds, Taniya Bhatia’s unbeaten 85 went in vain as Odisha defeated Punjab by seven wickets. Pragyan Mohanty top scored for the victor with a half century.

Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 120 for seven 20 overs (Niranjana Nagarajan 35, L Nethra 40, V Vilasini 28, Suravi Roy 2/28) beat Tripura 89 for eight in 20 overs (Mouchaity Debnath 20, L Nethra 4/22) Punjab 122 for three in 20 overs (Taniya Bhatia 85*) lost to Odisha 126 for three in 17.3 overs (Sarita Meher 21, Pragyan Mohanty 50*)