CHENNAI: It's no secret that short-pitched deliveries are not Shafali Verma’s favourite. Which is why, when Mansi Joshi started around the wicket, trying to attack the swashbuckling opener’s body, the idea wasn’t all that bad. But as the pacer struggled to find her line right, Velocity were off to a flyer against Supernovas in the final of the Women’s T20 Challenge in Pune. 17 runs in the first over, 11 in the second off Sophie Ecclestone, meant Velocity were 28/0 after two overs, chasing 166.
Enter Deandra Dottin. It’s hard to forget her last over heroics with the ball in the World Cup opener against New Zealand a few months ago. But she had a great tournament up until the final. Come the big day, the West Indies all-rounder stepped up, smashing a 44-ball 62 to set up the innings for the Supernovas.
Taking confidence from her batting, Dottin followed up on Joshi’s plans, coming around the wicket to Shafali. She started with a wide, but soon got the length right, squaring up the opener into an awkward position without any sort of width as Shafali edged one to the keeper. What Mansi Joshi intended, Dottin had executed to perfection.
Harmanpreet Kaur persisted with Ecclestone at the other end and she delivered the wicket of Yastika Bhatia. Dottin, meanwhile, continued to hit the deck hard against Kiran Navgire, who was promoted ahead of Laura Wolvaardt. The West Indian kept the attacking batter at bay, delivering the first maiden of the tournament. And that played in Navgire’s mind as she went after Ecclestone in the next over, only to lose her stumps for a 13-ball duck.
Wolvaardt tried to keep the momentum going at one end while Supernovas, coached by Nooshin Al Khadeer, were spot on with their on-field tactics and match-ups, dismissing Natthakan Chantham and Deepti Sharma cheaply. As the South African batter launched a lone battle, Dottin came back for her second spell. She was taken apart by Wolvaardt as well as Kate Cross, but the West Indies all-rounder came back strongly to dismiss Cross.
Every time Supernovas were under pressure, Dottin delivered. Simran Dil Bahadur (20 n.o off 10 balls) and Wolvaardt (65 n.o) gave Velocity hope, taking the fight till the last ball, but Supernovas held their nerve to get across the line by four runs to win their third Women’s T20 Challenge title.
Earlier, Dottin and Priya Punia started off well for the Supernovas with the former playing the role of the aggressor. Dottin took on Cross, Sneh Rana and Ayabonga Khaka, smashing four sixes on her way to a 44-ball 62. With Punia, she added 73 runs for the first wicket and another 38 with Harmanpreet Kaur for the second.
The Supernovas skipper took over the mantle from there as she brought out her trademark bat-swing into play. The sweep shots were executed from long-on to behind square as Harmanpreet smashed 43 runs from 29 balls before getting out to Cross. Supernovas fumbled from there before scrapping their way to 165/7 in 20 overs.