Guwahati, April 16: Jammu and Kashmir women’s team on Saturday began the Senior T20 campaign in style, defeating Mizoram by 4 wickets at Amingaon Cricket Stadium, Guwahati.
Earlier, winning the toss and batting first, Mizoram openers failed to apply and hold nerves against the J&K’s medium pace bowling duo of Sarla Devi and Bismah Hassan and managed to score just 8 runs in first six overs, before Shweta Jadhav was dismissed at her individual score of 3 runs by J&K skipper and off-spinner Sandhya Sayal.
Zauli was the another batter to be dismissed at her individual score off 8 runs and the team’s total of 27 runs in 8.4 overs. However, Tarang Jha and skipper Apurwa Bharadwaj salvaged the sinking ship and took the score to 98 runs in 19.3 overs, finally guiding the team to a respectable total of 101 runs in the stipulated 20 overs.
Tarang scored a magnificent half-century (50) off 44 deliveries, studded with 8 delectable boundaries, while Apurwa contributed unbeaten 34 runs off 31 balls with 4 fours and one six.
For J&K, Sarla Devi was the pick of the bowlers, who took one wicket in her 4 overs by conceding just 3 runs, while Sandhya was a bit expensive, giving away 30 runs in her 4 overs by claiming one wicket.
In reply, J&K lost opener Sarla Devi early in the innings when the score was 3/1 in 1.3 overs. However, the pair of another opener Bawandeep Kour and number-3 batter Bushra Ashraf showed grit and tenacity to notch up a partnership of 58 runs and took the score to 61 runs in 11.3 overs, before Bushra was dismissed at her individual score of 29 runs off 31 balls including 3 crispy boundaries.
Then Bawandeep’s 34 runs off 40 balls with 4 boundaries and Nadia Chowdhary’s 22 off 25 balls helped the team to chase the total in 19.2 overs. Bismah Hassan also contributed unbeaten 6 runs to the total. Bawandeep and Bushra were in sublime touch, who hit the ball with fluidity, grace and brilliance.
For Mizoram, Puipuii and Rin Mawii took 2 wickets each, while Apurwa claimed 1 wicket.
It is pertinent to mention here that Mizoram was represented by three guest players in Shweta Jadhav, Apurwa Bhardwaj and Tarang Jha.
The J&K team is being accompanied by Chetan Dhingra as Head Coach, Ankita Jalla and Rajesh Dhar as Managers, Rohit Rana as Strength and Conditioning Coach, Meenu Singh Slathia Slathia as Fielding Coach, Susheel Pajnu as Video Analyst, Hinan Mir as Side-Arm Throwdown Expert and Dr Shweta Jamwal as Physiotherapist.
J&K will take on formidable Nagaland in a day-night match in the next outing at ACA Stadium Guwahati on April 18.