Key points:
- South African Sune Luus dredged up an undefeated 37 under pressure.
- The modest chase, breaking a hat-trick of boundaries against Khaka, had lit up Shafali.
- Jahanara rejected main batters — Chamara Atapattu (44) and Harmanpreet Kaur (31)—to derail Supernova.
- In a 39-ball 44, Chamari slammed two sixes and two boundaries, while Harmanpreet smashed two sixes and one boundary.
As Acceleration overcame a jittery start to stun defending champions Supernovas with five wickets in the opening match of Women’s T20 Challenge this Wednesday, South African Sune Luus dredged up an undefeated 37 under pressure.
Velocity was 38 for three within nine overs chasing a modest 127, but including her calm-headed 37-run
knock that came off 21 balls with four fours and a six, Luus took them over the line.
Luus also shared with Sushma Verma (34) a vital 51-run stand in order to restore the innings after the early setbacks.
After choosing to bowl, the Velocity bowlers, led by left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht (3/22), had restricted Supernovas to 126/8.
Ayabonga Khaka (2/27) from South Africa gave Supernovas the perfect beginning to dismiss both
the openers, Dani Wyatt (0) as well as the highly talented Shafali Verma (17).
The modest chase, breaking a hat-trick of boundaries against Khaka, had lit up Shafali.
But after she flicked one directly to deep midwicket, Khaka bounced back to dismiss the talented Indian hitter.
After a slow seven out of 19 balls, Skipper Mithali Raj then fell prey to Siriwardene as it was left for Veda Krishnamurthy (29) as well as Sushma to hold them in the chase.
The veteran Sushma turned it around on 16th for Velocity over smashing Poonam Yadav for two sixes with some smooth-hitting display to bring down the run rate.
However, in the penultimate Over, she struggled to carry them over the line that fell to Poonam Yadav.
Needing nine runs off the last over, Luus sealed the chase with two frontiers in the penultimate ball.
On Thursday, Velocity will take on the Trailblazers.
New Zealand’s off-spinner Leigh Kasperek (2/23) as well as medium pacer Jahanara Alam (2/27) also contributed to stifling the holders, apart from the effort of Ekta Bisht.
Jahanara rejected main batters — Chamara Atapattu (44) and Harmanpreet Kaur (31)—to derail Supernova. In the back end, Sri Lankan T20 skipper Atapattu with her Indian counterpart Harmanpreet took power, but Jahanara and Veda Krishnamurthy split their 47-run partnership by taking calm-headed skiers in the long run.
After the Indian skipper holed out at short fine leg, Jahanara later dismissed Harmanpreet for 31. It sparked a collapse as four wickets for 15 runs were lost by the defending champions.
In a 39-ball 44, Chamari slammed two sixes and two boundaries, while Harmanpreet smashed two sixes and one boundary. With their spinner duo of Leigh Kasperek and Ekta Bisht, Velocity made some early inroads, dismissing Priya Punia (11) and Jemimah Rodrigues (7) within eight overs.
But with Chamari breaking free against Manali Dakshini, Supernova took charge at the back end. The T20 skipper of Sri Lankan hit Manali inside out over the cover and pulled Kasperek over deep mid-wicket for her second six to boost the run-rate in the next over. But Chamari dropped six runs shy of half a century, as Supernovas later struggled to change gear.
