Jammu, Jan 1: The duo of Rajasthan skipper Anshu Saini and Angel Choudhary overpowered the efforts of J&K pair of Manya Banotra and Sheetal Devi, thus guiding Rajasthan to a 4-wicket win over Jammu and Kashmir in the ongoing Women’s U-15 One Day Tournament at Railway Cricket Ground, Rajkot on Sunday.
Earlier, winning the toss and batting first, J&K scored a modest total of 127 runs in 35 overs, losing 9 wickets in the process. Opening batter Manya Banotra top scored with 47 runs off 85 balls, studded with 8 boundaries while Sania Slathia and Bhagya Lakshmi Jamwal contributed 17 and 12 runs to the total respectively. The unfortunate part of J&K innings was that five out of the nine batters ran themselves out.
For Rajasthan, Pearl Bamnawat was the pick of the bowlers, who took 3 important wickets by conceding 30 runs in her 7 overs, while Priya Samotra claimed one wicket.
In reply, Rajasthan chased the target in 27.1 overs by losing 6 wickets, thus winning the match by 4 wickets.
Rajasthan were struggling at 49/6 but they rode on a big partnership of 81 runs between their skipper Anshu and batter number 8 Angel to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
Skipper Anshu Saini was brilliant with the willow as she scored a magnificent 58* runs off 67 balls, studded with 8 boundaries, while Angel Choudhary contributed an unbeaten 27 runs off 51 balls with 4 boundaries.
Jammu and Kashmir eves missed the opportunity of qualifying for the knockout stage by a whisker as they were in a commanding position when Rajasthan were struggling at 49/6. J&K were almost certain to qualify for the knockout stage had they registered a win today.
Anyway, winning and losing is a part of the game, but one thing is certain that J&K women cricketers are emerging as a force to reckon with on the national scene in the years to come.
