The second day of the Women’s T20 Challenge 2022 witnessed Velocity chase down the target of 151 against Supernovas and register the highest successful chase in the tournament’s history.
Priya Punia started the Supernovas innings with a boundary, but Kate Cross made a comeback to induce an easy catch to Ayabonga Khaka two balls later at the covers.
In her second over, Harleen Deol tried to hit a flick shot off Cross, but the outside edge was caught at the point by Laura Wolvaardt.
In the fourth over, Velocity captain Deepti Sharma got an important wicket of Deandra Dottin, and Supernovas were reeling at 18/3.
After that, the duo of Taniya Bhatia and Harmanpreet Kaur hit delightful shots to steer the team, and odd boundaries helped the team’s cause. They registered the highest fourth-wicket partnership in the tournament’s history in this pursuit.
The 82-run stand ended when confusion between both the batters resulted in the run-out dismissal of Bhatia, who scored 36 runs before walking back to the pavilion.
Kaur continued her blistering innings to score 71 off 51 balls, with seven fours and three sixes. After her dismissal, Sune Luus hit two boundaries in the last over for the team to post 150 runs on the board.
Velocity lost Natthakan Chantham early in the second over, chasing a competitive score. After that, Shafali Verma was impressive in pouncing on the bad balls and consistently hitting boundaries. With her ball-striking capabilities, the team was in a commanding position with 60 runs after the end of the powerplay overs.
The experienced Dottin dismissed Yastika Bhatia (17) and Varma (51), with the latter getting holed out to a brilliant catch of Kaur at short-third man.
However, it was Laura Wolvaardt with 51*, and Sharma’s 24* to take the team home and register the highest successful run-chase of the tournament’s history.
Velocity are second in the points table behind Supernovas in terms of net run rate with this win. They will face Trailblazers on 26 May, which will decide the two teams for the final on 28 May.
Brief Scores:
Supernovas - 150/5 (20)
Harmanpreet Kaur 71 (51), Taniya Bhatia 36 (32);
Kate Cross 2/24 (4)
Velocity- 151/3 (18.2)
Shafali Verma 51 (33), Laura Wolvaardt 51* (35);
Deandra Dottin 2/21 (3.2)
Velocity won by 7 wickets