Heartbreak for TN women as Odisha prevails in Super Over

Though both Odisha and Chhattisgarh finished with 16 points each from five games, Odisha topped the group by virtue of a superior net runrate. Tamil Nadu finished third after winning three of its five matches but its loss to Odisha cost it dearly as the winner of the match would have secured top spot. 

The afternoon started brightly for the host as it won the toss again and opted to bat. Its most consistent performer, D Hemalatha, did what she does best by once again holding the innings together and emerged the highest scorer with 28 as TN set Odisha a target of 109. 

TN captain Niranjana Nagarajan’s ploy of opening the bowling with two left-arm spinners worked wonders as the Odisha batswomen found the going tough with the ball not coming on to the bat. 

The usually reliable wicketkeeper Namita Ojha had a mixed day at the office as she missed an easy stumping and a regulation catch. She later made amends with a neat stumping and also effected couple of runout’s. It must be said that Odisha’s suicidal running almost hastened its collapse and on a different day, it would have most certainly paid a heavy price. After 17 overs, the visiting team was 78 for four, a further 31 runs adrift of the target. 

The equation came down to 20 off 12 when the stocky Priyanka Priyadarshini clobbered the first six of the innings off K Ramyashri to bring Odisha within striking distance. 

The last over was bowled by V Vilasini and with three runs needed of the last ball, she made the mistake of not gathering the ball cleanly as the batswoman was caught well short of the crease attempting a second run. Instead, Vilasini removed the bails with her fingers thereby letting Odisha off the hook. With the match ending in a tie, Odisha held its nerve to prevail in a thrilling finish in the Super Over.