Cricket

'Whadda finale'- Twitter explodes as SN women beat VL women in nail-biting final to lift their third title

SN women beat VL women by four runs in the final of the Women's T20 Challenge 022 to lift their third title.

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Sophie Ecclestone

Sophie Ecclestone (Image source- BCCI/IPL)

SN women beat VL women by four runs in the final of the Women's T20 Challenge 022 to lift their third title. A brilliant batting display by the captain Deandra Dottin and Harmanpreet Kaur set up the game for SN women. Following that, regular ball breaks gave them a fantastic start, but some spectacular performances by VL women towards the bank end kept the game levelled. In the end, the Harmanpreet-led team held their nerves to restrict the women in purple.

VL women won the toss and decided to bowl first in the final at the MCA Stadium in Pune. However, they did not have the best start in the field as they dropped a few chances early on. Sneh Rana dropped a simple catch of Deandra Dottin in the fourth over, which put them in trouble. She started scoring quick runs and helped SN women reach 46 runs in the powerplay. She got the perfect support from Priya Punia until the 10th over.

Simran Bahadur broke the 73-run opening partnership when she dismissed Punia (28). Dottin was then joined by Harmanpreet Kaur (43), and they continued striking beautifully. They scored 58 runs in the partnership as Dottin (62) completed her half-century. She was removed in the 15th over by Deepti Sharma for a team score of 131. However, the SN women slowed down after that as they kept losing wickets. They managed 165/7 batting first.

VL women got off to a fast start in the chase, scoring 28 runs in the first two overs. However, things quickly tumbled after that. Wickets kept falling for them at regular intervals, and they could never settle in. They scored 38 runs in the powerplay but lost three wickets in the process. Following that, Laura Wolvaardt held one end but received no assistance from the other.

Half of the team were sent back for a team score of 64 in 11 overs. The equation came down to 102 runs required in the last nine overs. Wolvaardt and Sneh Rana, however, did manage to score 40 runs in the partnership, but Alana King broke the partnership. She dismissed Rana (15) in the 16th over and then took another wicket in the same over. Dottin then took her second wicket in the 17th over.

VL women needed 48 runs in three overs and had two wickets in hand. Wolvaardt hit a few boundaries and completed her half-century to keep the hopes alive for her side. Simran Bahadur also played a brilliant cameo to get the equation down to 17 runs in the last over. Sophie Ecclestone was hit for a six on the first ball of the final over, but held her nerves to concede just six runs in the next five balls to seal the game. In a nail-biting thriller, VL women were denied its first title.

Here's how Twitter reacted

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Women's T20 Challenge SN women VL women