Shafali Varma's ton stalls Delhi U23 women's run

Delhi’s campaign in the Women’s Under 23 One Day Trophy ended on Sunday in Chennai after the Pratika Rawal-led side lost their pre-quarterfinal to Haryana, which was captained by India woman star player Shafali Varma.

The right-handed Shafali, who hails from Rohtak, and has formed a lethal combination with Smriti Mandhana in the national team, was in imperious form as she hammered 101 off 66 balls to chase the 228-run target set by the Delhi team.

Batting first, Delhi women scored 227/7 in the allotted 50 overs with batter Ayushi Soni making 76 off 91 balls. Ayushi had scored a double century (234 not out) against Arunachal Pradesh in the last league match which Delhi won by 348 runs. Tanisha Singh made 75 off 81. The two batters added 148 for the fifth wicket after Delhi had been reduced to 75/4 in the 22nd over.

The target wasn’t challenging at all for the Haryana ladies who got there in 38 overs for the loss of just three wickets. Ekta Bhadana was the pick of the Delhi bowlers with 2/35.

The in-form Delhi were a bit unlucky as two of their five matches abandoned due to rain in league phase in Dehradun cost them points. While they beat Tamil Nadu by 118 runs, Chhattisgarh by 54 runs, and Arunachal Pradesh by 348 runs, their matches against Punjab and Bengal were abandoned without a ball bowled.

The loss of points cost them direct entry to quarter-finals and pitted them against Haryana in the pre-quarterfinals.

“We were a bit unlucky to lose points in the league phase which forced us to play the pre-quarterfinals,” said Deepti Dhyani, the coach of the Delhi women’s under-23 team that had earlier reached the final of the Women’s Under 23 T20 Trophy.

In fact, the Delhi women cricketers have been the saving grace for Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA). The under-15 girls’ team had, earlier in the season, finished as runners-up in their age group.  

Tags : Cricket, Delhi, DDCA, One Day cricket, Ranji Trophy