STORMONT – Glenn Phillips guided New Zealand to a six-wicket win over Ireland in the third T20I, hitting an unbeaten 56 off 44 balls in a successful chase of 175.

Ireland bounced back from a disappointing batting performance in the second T20I – when they were bowled out for 91 – and had New Zealand on 65-3 at one stage, but an 82-run stand between Phillips and Daryl Mitchell saw the Black Caps effectively navigate a tricky period to secure a 3-0 series victory.

Ireland batted first and Paul Stirling was immediately at his blistering best, striking a six with his second ball of the innings as he moved to 19 off 10. However, at the other end Andrew Balbirnie perished to Blair Tickner for a 16-ball 10.

But Stirling and Lorcan Tucker kept moving at a healthy rate, putting on 46 off 31 balls for the second wicket. The latter looked in good touch when taking on the left-arm spin of Mitchell Santner, showcasing his array of sweeps and some quick feet down the ground to record three consecutive boundaries.

Stirling was undone by the spin of Ish Sodhi – a bit of extra bounce caught the right-hander’s glove for a catch behind – to depart for 40 and Tucker fell for 28 off 19 in the following over to leave Ireland 81-3 in the 11th over.

New Zealand slowed the scoring as Ireland tumbled to 116-6 in the 17th over, but then came a blistering stand between Mark Adair and Curtis Campher. The pair put on 58 off just 23 deliveries, with the former smashing an astonishing four sixes and two fours in his 15-ball 37.

In response, Finn Allen raced out of the blocks for New Zealand, depositing Craig Young for 14 runs in the space of three balls. But Young had the perfect response, ending his first over with a pinpoint yorker to send Allen on his way.

Martin Guptill kept the aggression going, moving to 21 off 12, but Josh Little had Dane Cleaver pull the ball straight to Campher at deep square leg for 5 to leave New Zealand 41-2 in the fifth over.

George Dockrell had two catches dropped off two consecutive balls in his first over – Phillips was the lucky man – but it was a case of third time lucky when Guptill top-edged a sweep off the left-armer to Little at short fine-leg.

Ireland were in a strong position but Phillips and Mitchell began the rebuild, rotating the strike before 20 runs off Campher in the 15th over softened the equation.

Little dismissed Mitchell for 48 in the 17th over, taking a return catch after the right-hander top-edged a pull, but Jimmy Neesham arrived to play a blistering cameo of 23* off six to end the match and series.

Ireland v New Zealand, 3rd T20I, Stormont, 22 July 2022

Ireland 174-6 (20 overs; P Stirling 40, M Adair 37*; I Sodhi 2-27)
New Zealand 180-4 (19 overs; G Phillips 56*, D Mitchell 48; J Little 2-33)

New Zealand won by six wickets

Ireland claimed the ascendancy with the ball and in the early stages of their batting innings in the third Tri-Series T20I, but Pakistan battled back to claim victory by 13 runs in a rain-affected encounter. Ireland kept Pakistan to 92-5 in their 14 overs, pegging the tourists back either side of a lengthy rain delay and withstanding a pair of brisk cameos from Muneeba Ali and Nida Dar.

After inclement weather pushed back the start of play to 5pm, Ireland wasted no time in making inroads, Ava Canning striking with her first legal delivery. The right-arm seamer found significant inswing to knock over Iram Javed for a duck.

The rest of the powerplay was a tail of two batters, with Muneeba scoring freely and Bismah Maroof, the Pakistan captain, struggling to get going. The former slashed Canning for four in the first over before sweeping the same bowler to the fence in the fifth, with a pair of pulled boundaries off Arlene Kelly following soon after. Maroof, meanwhile, might have been grateful for the rain which came at the conclusion of the sixth over with her on nine off 20.

The delay reduced the game to 14 overs a side, and Ireland were able to restrict Pakistan well initially after the reduction, three overs following the break passing by boundary-less, and containing the wicket of Muneeba, swinging across the line and having her off stump pegged back by Laura Delany.

The captain struck again soon after, bringing her opposite number’s stay to an end for 13 off 25. That dismissal, skidding through to take out the middle stump, brought out Dar, who supplied the day’s most explosive cameo.

She signalled her intent instantly, sweeping Delany for four first ball, and coming down the track to loft Cara Murray down the ground in the next over. With Ayeesha Naseem, becalmed early on, muscling Delany for six, and Dar doing the same to Jane Maguire on the first ball of the final over, Pakistan would have hoped for a strong finish. But Maguire hit back, dismissing both batters and conceding only four further runs to give Ireland the momentum heading into the innings break.

They retained the advantage through the early stages of their innings, with openers Rebecca Stokell and Gaby Lewis combining to take 25 runs of the first two overs, bringing the required rate down to a run a ball in the process.

Stokell cut Diana Baig down to third, with a misfield allowing the ball through to the rope, before a crisp leg-side stroke brought a second boundary. Lewis fell inches short of beginning her innings in perfect fashion, a high and handsome pull shot bouncing just inside the field of play, and a sweep second ball brought another boundary. With Stokell also taking the aerial route, pumping Anam Amin back over her head, and Lewis cutting Dar for four, Ireland were well on top.

Ireland’s efforts in vain as rain favored Pakistan

Pakistan mounted a comeback however, restricting Ireland to just two further boundaries, both hit by Lewis off consecutive Kainat Imtiaz deliveries, and while Ireland’s strong start meant that they kept in touch with the required run rate, by the end they left themselves too much to do.

Stokell was the first to fall victim to the pressure, bowled by Tuba Hassan in the eighth over, and while Orla Prendergast stuck with Lewis and rotated the strike, the big hits weren’t forthcoming. When the No.3 did attempt to hit out, she could only manage to skew Dar into the air, Javed completing the catch, and from there, Ireland were scrambling.

The last two overs saw four wickets fall, three to run outs and one – Mary Waldron – lbw to Fatima Sana. A close game had ended with Pakista

Ireland suffered heartbreak once again, falling to a one-run defeat chasing 361 against New Zealand in the third ODI. Having suffered a dramatic one-wicket loss in the series opener, Ireland were on the wrong end of another tight finish in the finale despite scintillating hundreds from Paul Stirling and Harry Tector. The pair put on 179 off 150 balls for the third wicket as Ireland threatened to pull off their highest ever chase in ODIs.

But with three required from the final ball of the match, debutant Graham Hume failed to make contact with a Blair Tickner slower ball, ensuring that New Zealand wrapped up a 3-0 series win. After 719 runs in the match, only one separated both sides.

Martin Guptill and Finn Allen got New Zealand off to a racing start after the visitors chose to bat first; the fifty partnership between the openers was brought up in seven overs.

Josh Little was called upon inside the Powerplay and delivered a much-needed breakthrough after an expensive first over, with Allen’s pull shot finding George Dockrell at deep backward square.

A second wicket followed not long after, with Curtis Campher reacting quickly at mid-off to run out Will Young at the non-striker’s end for just 3 after the New Zealanders attempted to run a quick single.

Tom Latham rode his luck at the start of his innings, twice edging Little in the 14th over only to escape with a pair of boundaries. But he and Guptill then settled in nicely, taking New Zealand to 146-2 after 23 overs.

Campher removed Latham for 30, but that brought the fireworks of Henry Nicholls, who raced to 20 off 12 balls. Guptill advanced to his 18th ODI hundred with a straight six off Little in the 34th over, and although Gareth Delany had the centurion adjudged LBW for 115, New Zealand continued to up the ante, with Nicholls and Glenn Philipps putting on 54 off 38 balls.

Nicholls was eventually bowled for 79 off 54 balls by a Craig Young off-cutter, but Phillips (47 off 30), Michael Bracewell (21 off 16) and Mitchell Santner (14 off 10) lifted New Zealand to an imposing total of 360-6.

Paul Stirling, Harry Tector’s centuries in vain

Stirling got the chase up and running with a drive through the covers for four off Lockie Ferguson, but Andrew Balbirnie departed for a duck in the following over, trapped LBW by Matt Henry.

But Andrew McBrine and Stirling began to fire, and they put on 55 before Henry removed the former for his second wicket of the day.

That brought Stirling together with Tector in the 10th over, and so began the start of a record-breaking partnership. Stirling’s half-century took 56 balls, while Tector was even quicker – he pulled Ferguson for six to reach the landmark off 54 balls.

The big hits kept on coming as Stirling found another gear, as he moved from 50 to 100 in just 32 balls, and he launched consecutive sixes to move to 120, but his attempt at a third saw him caught in the deep by Phillips.

Phillips dropped a pair of catches to give both Delany and Tector an extra life, but Guptill leapt spectacularly at cover to send Delany back for 22.

Campher fell for 5, but Tector managed to get to his ton, leaving Ireland with the equation of 73 needed from the final nine overs.

Santner removed Tector for 108 in the 44th, and Tucker departed for 14 two overs later, but George Dockrell – Ireland’s top-scorer in the second ODI – kept hopes of victory alive with a crucial 17-ball 22.

With one over left, 10 runs were required and a four from Young – via another dropped effort from Phillips – narrowed the requirement to just five from three.

But Young was run out in an attempt for two from the next ball and Tickner held his nerve to deny Ireland a historic win. Guptill was named Player of the Match while Bracewell picked up the Player of the Series gong.

Team India faced Northamptonshire in the second and final T20 warm-up game on Sunday. They had won their previous game against Derbyshire comfortably and were expected to go past the County side this time as well. However, Northamptonshire pushed them to the brink and at one stage, were the favourites to win the game. However, India came back well courtesy of some lower-order contributions with the bat and the bowlers later to win the close game by 10 runs.

Earlier, India were invited to bat first and the visitors got off to a horrible start losing their three batters in the first three overs itself with only 8 runs on the board. Sanju Samson and Suryakumar Yadav bagged ducks while Rahul Tripathi also missed a scoop shot to get out on 7. This is when Dinesh Karthik joined hands with Ishan Kishan first and then Venkatesh Iyer to revive the team’s innings.

The skipper scored 34 runs off just 26 deliveries but the real impetus to the innings was provided by Harshal Patel who slammed an impressive half-century. He slammed 54 runs off just 36 balls with five fours and three sixes before getting out on the penultimate delivery of the innings. Thanks to his knock, India managed to post a competitive total of 149 runs for the loss of eight wickets in 20 overs.

Indian bowlers restrict Northamptonshire

In response, Emilio Gay got the team off to a flier even as his side lost early wickets. Saif Zaib also hung in the middle scoring vital runs for his side but the Northants kept losing wickets courtesy of some excellent bowling from the Indian pacers. At 77/6 in the 11th over, it seemed the visitors would run away with the game. But the lower-order of the Northants put up a brilliant fight making sure the team was in the hunt.

Zaib stuck to his task though and with the help of the tail, he took the team close to the target. The equation came down to 17 runs in the end off the last two overs. But Arshdeep Singh and Harshal Patel did an excellent job to keep the batters at bay with the latter scalping the crucial wicket of Zaib in the final over and seal the game for India.

The summit clash of the 11th Red Bull Campus Cricket (RBCC) National Finals India 2022 saw Ahmedabad’s New LJ College square off against Delhi’s Alfalah University at the IS Bindra Stadium (Punjab Cricket Association) in Mohali. Both the teams had been a dominant force throughout the group stage, and last year’s runners-up team Ahmedabad entered the finals with an aim to balance out the previous season’s loss.

The game started with Delhi winning the toss and electing to bat first. The opening pair of Qamran Iqbal and Govind Singh Rathore was off to a terrific start, with the former kicking off the game with a boundary off the very first ball. Rathore took charge in the third over and smashed Dhruvam Patel by hitting him for three fours and a six, thereby taking his team’s scorecard up.

Ahmedabad skipper Bhavin Engle gave his side the first breakthrough when he picked Qamran in the fourth over, thereby breaking the budding partnership. Three wickets fell in the powerplay, and Delhi was reduced to 51/3 by the end of six overs. It was late in the 12^th over when Dheeru Singh took a toll on Aasav Panchal, thereby hitting him for three well-placed boundaries.

The middle order-batters wreaked havoc and added the crucial runs on the scoreboard. Dheeru Singh’s start was slow, but he took his time to settle on the field and gained the required pace to start with his power-hitting. It took a long time for the Ahmedabad bowlers to get him out, but they took a sigh of relief after finally picking him in the 18^th over, courtesy of Smit Patel.

Delhi’s middle-order came into the party

The middle-order boost was exactly what Delhi needed after losing the initial wickets. With three wickets coming off the final over, Delhi finished off scoring 162/8. The chase started with Ahmedabad openers Yashraj Joshi and Dhairav Oza walking into the field with an aim, but the team received a major blow when Delhi bowlers Faizan Alam and Mohammed Sharim provided with early breakthroughs, thereby dismissing the opening duo for low scores.

Rahul Ahuja and Ansh Patel gave their team the required pace and sailed past the powerplay. Their performance was much different than their semi-finals game, as the batters struggled to hit many boundaries, and kept running between the wickets. The asking rate kept increasing, and the batters tried to cover up the chase with more singles and doubles. Halfway into the chase, Ahmedabad batters failed to hit a single six and settled with the seven fours.

The game had completely slipped towards Delhi’s side after Boby Yadav scalped a couple of wickets, and the other bowlers did a terrific job as well by restricting the opposition hitters. The final five overs were miserable for Ahmedabad, and Delhi gave them a taste of their medicine by scalping wickets regularly, breaking the momentum. There was nothing Ahmedabad could do as Delhi snatched the victory, and handed them their second consecutive finals loss, to win by 35 runs.

Brief Scores:

Delhi: 162/8 in 20 overs (Dheeru Singh- 67(43); Bhavin Engle- 2/18 in 4 overs)

Ahmedabad: 127/9 in 20 overs (Rahul Ahuja- 38(39); Boby Yadav- 3/25 in 4 overs)

Awards:

Player of the Match- Dheeru Singh (Delhi)

Player of the Tournament- Dheeru Singh (Delhi)

Best Bowler of the Tournament- Smit Patel (Ahmedabad)

Best Batter of the Tournament- Yashraj Joshi (Ahmedabad)

DUBLIN – Ireland Women were bowled out for 69 in the first One-Day International of The HBV Studios International Women’s Cricket Series against South Africa, eventually succumbing to a nine-wicket defeat.

Having begun strongly in the T20I series between the sides, Ireland winning the first game by 10 runs, captain Gaby Lewis won the toss and elected to bat in her country’s first-ever game in the ICC Women’s Championship, hoping to put up another strong total to trouble the 2022 Women’s Cricket World Cup semi-finalists.

However, Lewis, Player of the Series in the T20Is, was dismissed for a duck, cramped for room by a short ball from the returning Shabnim Ismail, who settled under the miscued pull shot herself.

The second and third wickets followed soon after, with Leah Paul edging Ayabonga Khaka to slip and Rachel Delaney bowled playing across the line to Ismail, and Ireland were in deep trouble at 4-3.

The introduction of Nadine de Klerk brought a momentary release in pressure, with Mary Waldron driving sweetly through point for the first boundary of the innings, but de Klerk struck back in her next over, pinning Waldron in front.

When the rain came in the 14th over, Ireland was 21-4, with Shauna Kavanagh, playing her 100th international for Ireland, and Sophie MacMahon in the midst of constructing the most substantial partnership of the innings either side of the 25-minute delay. The pair compiled runs slowly and sensibly, with their 21-run stand containing a solitary boundary, but the introduction of Raisibe Ntozakhe brought about the breakthrough, Kavanagh caught by Khaka at mid-off.

Not long after, South Africa captain Sune Luus struck twice in an over to reduce Ireland to 44-7. MacMahon was also caught by Khaka, again at mid-off, while Sarah Forbes, one of two debutants alongside Arlene Kelly, was pinned lbw, missing an attempted sweep.

Forbes’ departure allowed for the entrance of Georgina Dempsey, who played the day’s most eye-catching innings. She took the dismissal of Kelly, caught and bowled by Luus, as an invitation to counter-attack, striking Ismail, No.2 in the ICC Women’s ODI Bowling Rankings, for three consecutive boundaries, timing the ball sweetly through the off-side. A single then brought Jane Maguire on strike, with Ismail locating the yorker to send the No.10 on her way, and the speedster struck again three balls later, Cara Murray edging behind, to bring the Ireland innings to a close.

That left South Africa needing 70 to win, and Ireland began strongly in their defence. The first five overs of the innings came and went without a boundary being scored, with the wicket of Laura Wolvaardt continuing Dempsey’s fine day. The No.4-ranked batter in the ICC Women’s ODI Batting Rankings was tempted into a drive, and only succeeded in edging behind for eight.

After seven overs South Africa were 17-1 and struggling to score fluently. But Lara Goodall, top scorer in each of the Proteas’ wins in the T20I series, soon got the innings going, striking Kelly and Dempsey each for a boundary in consecutive overs. The runs began to follow thereafter, with Andrie Steyn combining for an unbeaten, match-winning 55-run stand, Steyn tucking the decisive single in the 16th over.

The next ODI, also part of the ICC Women’s Championship, will take place at the same venue on Tuesday, 14 June.

MATCH SUMMARY

Ireland Women v South Africa Women, 1st ODI, Clontarf, 11 June 2022

Ireland 69 (27.2 overs; G Dempsey 19, S Kavanagh 15; S Ismail 3-16, S Luus 3-16)

South Africa 70-1 (16 overs; L Goodall 32*, A Steyn 21*; G Dempsey 1-20)

The grand finale of the second edition of the women’s tournament of the 11^th Red Bull Campus Cricket (RBCC) National Finals India 2022 witnessed two powerful teams- Mumbai and Ranchi locking horns with each other. The two teams cleared the semi-finals on June 10 and were all set to play the finals on June 11. Mumbai’s Rizvi College Women and Ranchi’s Marwari College Women looked strong as they eyed the glorious championship cup.

The game started off with Ranchi winning the toss and electing to bat first. It was a big opportunity for defending champions Mumbai as they eyed their second straight championship. Ranchi started off on a high note, as openers Priyanka Sawaiyan and Anamika Kumari held their heads high in the game and played a composed knock.

The duo shared a 36-run partnership by the end of the powerplay and brought up a 50-run partnership in the 9th over. They struggled to hit boundaries, and could not find the gap regularly, but covered it up by running between the wickets brilliantly. After a powerful show in the semifinals against Chennai, Mumbai struggle to take the openers down. The duo studied the field very well and placed their shots to perfection.

Sawaiyan and Kumari put up a brilliant 107-runs partnership before the former was scalped by Mansi Patil late in the 16^th over as Mumbai got the first breakthrough. The first wicket was a big blow for Ranchi, as it broke their momentum in the game. Kumari’s wicket put a pause on Ranchi’s scoring but her 54-ball 60 was the highlight of the first innings. Patil struck late but was brilliant in the death overs as she finished her four-over spell picking three wickets and conceding 19 runs.

Mumbai’s chase started off on a low note, as the openers held their places in the game, but could not hit many runs. While skipper Riya Chaudhari struggled, Mansi Patil managed to build the innings and found the gaps to send the ball towards the boundary in order to keep the asking rate in check. They stayed through the powerplay and added 28 runs for the first wicket before Chaudhari was dismissed by Monika Murmu.

Vrushali Bhagat joined Patil in the top order, but the duo could not build a partnership as Patil walked back to the pavilion soon after Chaudhari. Bhagat also could not keep her place intact as Ranchi successfully dished out the top-order batters within the first 10 overs, reducing the defending champions Mumbai to 39/3.

Sawaiyan stole the show as she beautifully restricted the Mumbai batters from scoring many runs, and took three wickets during her spell, conceding just nine runs. Ranchi carried their winning momentum in the finals and handed Mumbai a thumping defeat, thereby winning the glorious tournament by 36 runs and lifting the prestigious trophy.

Brief Scores: Ranchi defeated Mumbai by 36 runs

Ranchi: 125/5 in 20 overs (Anamika Kumari- 60(59); Mansi Patil- 3/19 in 4 overs)

Mumbai: 89/6 in 20 overs (Sadhvi Sanjay- 26(40); Priyanka Sawaiyan- 3/9 in 3 overs)

Awards:

Player of the Match- Anamika Kumari, Ranchi (60 runs in 54 balls)

Player of the Tournament- Monika Murmu, Ranchi (All-round performance)

After witnessing eight teams playing a total of 12 matches in the group stage of the Red Bull Campus Cricket (RBCC) National Finals India 2022, four teams made their way into the men’s semi-finals of the mega event at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium in Mohali. Alfalah University (Delhi), DAV College (Jalandhar), DAVV University (Indore), and New LJ College (Ahmedabad) competed against each other aiming to reach the ultimate stage- The Finals.

Here’s the report of the two matches-

Semi-finals 1: Alfalah University (Delhi) vs DAV College (Jalandhar) at IS Bindra Stadium (PCA), Mohali

Delhi openers Govind Singh Rathore (15 off 16) and Qamran Iqbal (23 off 19) shared six boundaries between them as they got their side of to a great start after being put to bat first by Jalandhar. The team lost the momentum when they lost the openers in the fourth and eighth over respectively. It was Avneesh Sudha who provided his team some stability as he found the gap at the right time and hit the ball across the fence a couple of times, thereby adding some quick runs to the scoreboard.

Jalandhar’s Suhail Khan added two wickets to his cap within two overs, as he dismissed Sudha (25 off 22) and Aniket Singh (6 off 9). Dheeru Singh’s run-a-ball 22 and Badal Singh’s cameo of a 19-ball 24 towards the end helped Delhi put a defendable total. Balraj Singh’s four-wicket haul helped Jalandhar to restrict Delhi to a low score. That brought the Jalandhar batters on the field to start the chase.

Opener Ridham Satyawan (61 off 56) gave a good start to the side, but he could not form a partnership with his teammates, and wickets kept falling at regular intervals. Jalandhar faced a collapse in the middle as they lost their batting lineup like dominoes. Satyawan’s half-century steered the innings a bit, but Faizan Alam and Mohammed Sharim wreaked havoc on the field and restricted Jalandhar to 120 runs to win the match by 16 runs, thereby making their way into the finals.

Brief Scores: Delhi defeated Jalandhar by 16 runs

Delhi: 136/10 in 20 overs (Avneesh Sudha- 25(22); Balraj Singh- 4/32 in 4 overs)

Jalandhar: 120/10 in 20 overs (Ridham Satyawan- 61(56); Mohammed Sharim- 4/15 in 3 overs)

Semi-finals 2: DAVV University (Indore) vs New LJ College (Ahmedabad) at IS Bindra Stadium (PCA), Mohali

Ahmedabad decided to make the most out of the first innings and thus opted to bat first. Yashraj Joshi (30 off 17) and Dhairav Oza (22 off 15) took their team to a terrific start and added 44 runs for the opening stand. But the two had to walk back in the powerplay. Indore tried their best to restrict Ahmedabad batters after the breakthroughs and bagged more wickets to break their momentum.

Skipper Bhavin Engle (33 off 32) and Dhaval Pandya stitched up a brilliant 63-runs partnership in the middle, which helped Ahmedabad put up a big total of 173 runs at the loss of nine wickets. Pandya (46 off 22) batted at a strike rate of 209.09 but fell short of just four runs to complete a well-deserving half-century. Shubham Gunjal’s four-wicket haul helped Indore at the crucial stages as he bowled at a good economy of 6.25.

Ahmedabad, who finished runners-up last year, was into this game with an aim. Indore openers were settling well, but Nitishkumar Mishra struck twice and scalped them both. It became for Indore batters to get their game going at a good pace as their opponents did not provide them with any scope of making a big impact. Smit Patel’s extravagant five-wicket haul helped Ahmedabad make way into the finals, thereby defeating Indore by a whopping 53 runs.

Brief Scores: Ahmedabad defeated Indore by 53 runs

Ahmedabad: 173/9 in 20 overs (Dhaval Pandya- 46(22); Shubham Gunjal- 4/25 in 4 overs)

Indore: 120/10 in 18 overs (Pawan Nirwani- 36(20); Smit Patel- 5/7 in 3 overs)

The Women’s edition of the Red Bull Campus Cricket (RBCC) National Finals India 2022 entered its second year when four teams made their way into the semi-finals of the mega event at the Mullanpur Stadium in Mohali. The two games witnessed four teams, viz. MGR Janaki College (Chennai), Rizvi College (Mumbai), Alfalah University (Delhi), and Marwari College (Ranchi), competing against each other to seal the finals berth.

Here’s the report of the two matches-

Semi-finals 1: MGR Janaki College (Chennai) vs Rizvi College (Mumbai) at Mullanpur Stadium, Mohali

Defending champions Mumbai were back on the big stage aiming for their second consecutive title when they locked horns with Chennai in the first semi-finals. Winning the toss, they put Chennai to bat first. Mumbai was into the game from the word go, as they did not let Chennai score many runs, and lowered them to 16/3 in the powerplay. Samiksha Bangal bagged two wickets, whereas Pereira Batul took one.

Chennai struggled badly to put some runs on the scoreboard. J Mythili (10 off 18) and T Hemamalini (8 off 17) tried to stitch a partnership, but could not withstand the Mumbai bowlers. Their struggle came to an end when Janvi Kate and Vrushali Bhagat wreaked havoc on the field as Chennai’s batting lineup came crashing down. The duo shared seven wickets among themselves in just five overs and dished out Chennai to end their innings at 42 runs in 13.5 overs.

Mansi Patil (6 off 4) and Sadhvi Sanjay opened the innings for Mumbai to start the chase, but the former was taken down very early, in just the second over, by R Deepika. Sejal Raut (16* off 11) and Sanjay (10 off 18) were brilliant on the pitch, as they stitched a 25-run partnership to cover up most of the target. Even after Sanjay’s dismissal, not much was left to be achieved. Mumbai chased the score within 6.2 overs and entered the finals in style.

Brief Scores: Mumbai defeated Chennai by 8 wickets

Chennai: 42/10 in 13.5 overs (J Mythili- 10(18); Janvi Kate- 4/6 in 2.5 overs)

Mumbai: 43/2 in 6.2 overs (Sejal Raut- 16*(11); J Mythili- 1/12 in 2 overs)

Semi-finals 2: Alfalah University (Delhi) vs Marwari College (Ranchi) at Mullanpur Stadium, Mohali

Winning the toss, Delhi elected to bat first. The openers struggled against the Ranchi bowlers and faced a blow when Mansi Sharma (8 off 19) lost her wicket to Devyani Prasad. Pratika Rawal (22 off 23) and skipper Ayushi Soni (10 off 18) were also slow in their innings but managed to add a few runs. After their dismissal, Riya Sapra (10 off 27) tried to bat her way, but her struggle ended when she was run out.

Ranchi had the upper hand throughout the first innings, as they restricted Delhi to just 84 runs in 20 overs, thereby picking six wickets in their run. Bhateri’s quick 16-ball 14 provided a little assistance to Delhi, but it was just not enough for the side. With a target of 85 runs, Ranchi started off their chase on a decent note.

After the dismissal of the openers Priyanka Sawaiyan (8 off 19) and Anamika Kumari (10 off 13), wickets fell in succession, and Delhi brilliantly restricted Ranchi to 25/3 in the powerplay. But little did they know about the nightmare that they were to face. Monika Murmu walked out to bat in the middle and notched up an unbeaten 32-ball 41* to take her team over the line as Ranchi won the game by four wickets, with 25 balls to spare, thereby making it to the finals.

Brief Scores: Ranchi defeated Delhi by 4 wickets

Delhi: 84/6 in 20 overs (Pratika Rawal- 22(23); Devyani Prasad- 2/15 in 4 overs)

Ranchi: 87/6 in 15.5 overs (Monika Murmu- 41*(32); Mahima Yadav- 3/7 in 3 overs)

Nepal Women ended the series on a high note by defeating Uganda Women in the final T20I of the five-match series. After Uganda had taken a 3-0 lead in the series, thereby clinching the trophy, Nepal bounced back stronger to put up a tough fight to win the final two games and finished the last game with a 33-run victory.

Uganda won the toss and put Nepal to bat first. After Jyoti Pandey struggled to score a single run in the first over, Sita Rana Magar took the charge in the next over to hit a couple of boundaries and kick-start the game. A handful of mistakes by the Uganda bowler Patricia Malemikia cost their side big as Nepal openers scored 16 runs off the third over. The duo went strong till the eighth over, before Phiona Kulume scalped Magar for a 24-ball 17.

Indu Barma (8 off 12) joined Pandey on the crease but did not get much chance to bat as the latter took charge of the game. Barma’s dismissal brought in Kabita Joshi who added some quick runs on board to mark her arrival. The final three overs of the first inning ended on a thrilling note, as Uganda scalped four wickets towards the end and Pandey (49 off 61) fell short by just one run to get her half-century.

But thanks to the power-hitting abilities of Joshi (18* off 15) and Apsari Begum (11 off 5), Nepal posted 123/5 on the board putting a huge target for Uganda to chase.

Nepal’s economic bowling unit restricted Uganda from achieving the target

Uganda openers Kevin Awino and Kulume (8 off 7) gave a kick start to the chase, but the latter had to find her way back to the pavilion early in the second over, courtesy of Asmina Karmacharya. Janet Mbabazi (10 off 12) added some quick runs on board before being scalped by Sita Rana Magar for a 12-ball 10. The innings slowed down drastically after the two dismissals.

Rita Musamali (26 off 38) and Awino (15 off 22) found it very difficult to find the gap and send the ball towards the fence as Nepal’s bowling unit restricted them really well. They kept scalping wickets at regular intervals, leaving no scope for a successful chase. Uganda batters played their part in the game for 20 overs, but Nepal bowlers overpowered them and restricted the visitors to 90/6 thereby winning the game by 33 runs.

Uganda Women won the five-match T20I series against Nepal Women by 3-2 and all-rounder Janet Mababazi was named the player of the series.