OPINION
Follow Us"We never felt we won the game, and we knew anything could happen"
It is hard to believe a skipper saying this after having the opposition tottering at 118 for the loss of six wickets in pursuit of 166. Despite 49 runs being required of the last 19 deliveries, Harmanpreet Kaur was well aware that the Supernovas are not yet out of the muddle, given the standard of cricket exhibited in the league.
And the 32-year-old was not wrong, as Laura Wolvaardt and Simran Bahadur stitched an unbeaten 44-run partnership off 19 deliveries to help Velocity get agonisingly close to getting over the line.
Over the past three seasons, the Women's T20 Challenge has helped the Women in Blue unearth young talent, and this edition was no different, as Kiran Navgire and Simran Bahadur have well and truly shown the skills and the talent bubbling in the domestic circuit of Indian cricket.
With the Women's IPL hopefully set to kickstart from the following season, the summit clash provided a perfect farewell to the Women's T20 Challenge, a tournament that has showcased glimpses of great things to follow in women's cricket.
While most people expected the Supernovas to go all the way, considering the quality of overseas players in their squad, along with Harmanpreet Kaur and Pooja Vastrakar in the mix, they did it with a stamp of authority to clinch their third title in four seasons.
For a team filled with world-class players like Sophie Ecclestone, Deandra Dottin and Alana King in the playing XI along with the Indian internationals, anything less than a championship would be considered a below-par performance by them in the competition.
While they stumbled against the same opposition in the league match earlier in the week, the final was about dominating their counterparts with clear ideas and aggressive strategies that helped them sail over the line.
Dottin lights up the final with a blazing innings
And talking about dominating the opposition, there is none better than Dottin, who has the ability to take the game away from the opposition single-handedly, and she showcased her skills in this high-voltage clash.
Despite having a lukewarm tournament by her standards, Dottin walked onto the field with a sole aim, " The idea was to spend as much time as possible in the middle," she said in a post-innings interview.
And she accomplished her goal with ease as she steadied the innings by accumulating the ones and the twos before displaying an array of strokes all around the ground to enthral the fans and get the team off to a flying start in the powerplay.
While she was a tad bit lucky as Velocity dropped a couple of catches to give her and the Supernovas much-needed reprieves, the 30-year old scored 62 off 44 deliveries studded with one boundary and four massive hits over the fence to power the team to 165 runs in the first innings.
Highest of highs to lowest of lows for Kiran Navgire
In pursuit of 166 runs for their maiden title, Velocity relied heavily on Shafali Verma and Navgire to provide the team with some quick runs at the top of the order. However, the duo failed to get going and succumbed under pressure to give the Supernovas advantage in the first half of the second innings.
After a high of scoring the fastest fifty in the Women's T20 Challenge, Navgire set foot at the MCA Stadium with expectations riding rocketing sky-high. While she faced spin for most deliveries against the Trailblazers, the Supernovas opted for a different tactic of bowling Deandra Dotting round the wicket and targeting her body.
With lack of experience and exposure to handling this type of strategy, the 27-year old struggled for 13 deliveries and was eventually dismissed without troubling the scorers.
It is often said that cricket, or sports in general, teaches you lessons for life, and Navgire learnt it the hard way as she endured contrasting fortunes in the span of two days. However, with the abundance of talent, the fans and team management would hope this can be an excellent experience for her in dealing with quality bowling and work on her game as this might be the ploy teams might deploy when they face her next.
A partnership that showcased the rise of women's game
When Velocity were rattled in the middle overs courtesy of the spin combination of Sophie Ecclestone and Alana King, most people felt the match was over, and Supernovas were on the brink of victory.
However, with the growth and development of women's players across the globe and in the domestic circuit, it is fair to say the game ain't over till the last ball is bowled or the last run is scored.
With 49 runs needed in 19 deliveries, not many people gave Velocity a chance to stage a comeback. But, Wolvaardt and Simran had other ideas as the duo played quality cricketing strokes and made optimum use of some lacklustre death bowling to get the team closer to the target.
The South African batter starred with the bat yet again and smashed an unbeaten 65 off 44 deliveries with five boundaries and three sixes, while Simran scored a quickfire 20 off 10 deliveries to give the Supernovas a massive scare.
A week of riveting action in the tournament has proved that no total is safe in women's cricket and tonight was just a snippet of what lies ahead in the women's arena.
And as Jemimah Rodrigues rightly said, we can't wait to witness the magic the girls will weave with the inception of the Women's IPL, and we hope the best is yet to come for the women players who compete in this sport with utmost passion.
