We have teammates who want to play all moments: Harmanpreet on title win

Supernovas captain Harmanpreet Kaur credited her teammates' competitive mentality following their 2022 Women's T20 Challenge title win on Saturday with a thrilling four-run win over Velocity at the MCA Stadium.

Chasing 166, Velocity were down to 117/8 in 16.5 overs when Laura Wolvaardt (65 not out off 40 balls) and Simran Bahadur (20 not out off 10 balls) launched a super counterattack by adding 44 in 19 balls. 

However, Sophie Ecclestone defended 17 off the final over to take Supernovas to their third title in four seasons.

"When you have teammates who always want to play each and every moment, you do that whether it's in your favour or not," Harmanpreet said at the title presentation.

Bahadur was the chief aggressor as she smashed Pooja Vastrakar's penultimate over for 17 runs to bring Velocity back into the game. Harmanpreet said she was prepared for a close match.

"It was always normal (heartbeat). I know this game going to be like that only and I was prepared for that. Great effort by the girls. We never felt we won the game and we knew anything could happen," she said.

Ecclestone went for a six off her first ball, but gave away just three singles and a double in her final over. Harmanpreet was full of praise for the left-arm spinner.

"The way Sophie bowled it was outstanding. She was quite confident. If you have a bowler who is so confident, half job is done. I was just giving her placement and she was bowling the way she wanted to bowl," she said.

Batting first, Supernovas openers Deandra Dottin and Priya Punia added 73 in 9.3 overs before Harmanpreet anchored the innings with a quickfire 43 off 29 balls. Dottin who scored 62 off 44 balls and claimed 2-28 was awarded Player of the Match and Player of the Tournament.

"Feels brilliant to be a part of this tournament. Experience is very good. You come here and learn from other players and you bond with your teammates and learn from different personalities. I'm a bit shy but it was very good for me. The team backed me, made me feel comfortable and at home," the Windies allrounder said.

Velocity captain Deepti Sharma rued the chances to build a partnership which increased the pressure at the end.

"I think had we built partnerships in the middle overs, it wouldn't have come down to this. Batters didn't take the responsibility, but Laura and Simran played really well. Given our batting lineup, it looked like a chasable target. Those two (Laura and Simran) had to swing the bat at everything, that was the only option they had," Deepti said.

"The way the team has performed, we did decently," she added.