Thiruvananthapuram: Odisha stormed into the knockout stage of the Women’s T20 meet with a five-star performance.
On Sunday, Odisha women edged past Tamil Nadu by 2 runs in a thriller at Greenfield Stadium. By holding their nerve to win their closest match of the campaign so far, Odisha topped Elite Group B with an all-win record.
The knockout rounds will be played at Surat from April 28.
Odisha Cricket Association immediately recognized the women’s brilliant performance as secretary Sanjay Behera announced a cash award of Rs 5 lakh to all team members and supporting staff.
Having dismissed the challenge of Chhattisgarh in the opener, Odisha went on to beat Bihar, Tripura and Jharkhand before getting the better of a strong Tamil Nadu outfit.
Odisha, after opting to bat first, got off to an absolutely nightmarish start by losing three wickets for just 22 runs in the fourth over.
Sarita Meher and wicketkeeper-batter Pragyan P Mohanty then took charge to pull Odisha out of the deep hole and post a challenging total of 133/3.
Sarita remained unbeaten on 61 off 51 balls, hitting 8 fours and a six, while Pragyan finished on 59 (51 balls, 7 fours, 1 six) as the duo added 109 runs for the unbroken fourth wicket.
Tamil Nadu, too, lost early wickets as Odisha bowlers reduced them to 28/3 in the seventh over.
S Anusha and skipper MD Thirushkamini stopped the rot with a 59-run partnership to bring Tamil Nadu back into the match.
Once Thirushkamini was dismissed, Odisha smelled blood and claimed a flurry of wickets.
As the final over started, Tamil Nadu needed 13 runs with three wickets intact and Anusha going strong with a half-century.
Sarita ran out Pavithra Sridharan off the first ball of the 20th over as Anusha looked to retain strike. Despite her best efforts, Anusha failed to take her team over the line as Odisha’s bowlers and fielders put their best foot forward. Anusha remained not out on 55 as TN were stopped at 133/8.
Scores: Odisha 133/3 in 20 overs. Tamil Nadu 131/8 in 20 overs.
Result: Odisha won by 2 runs.
PATH TO KNOCKOUT STAGE
* Odisha beat Chhattisgarh by 71 runs
* Odisha beat Bihar by 7 wickets
* Odisha beat Tripura by 7 wickets
* Odisha beat Jharkhand by 16 runs
* Odisha beat Tamil Nadu by 2 runs.
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