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Clinical knocks by Supernovas batters guided their team to a score of 163 against Trailblazers in the opening match of the Women's T20 Challenge here at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Monday.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur top-scored for Supernovas with a knock of 37 while Harleen Deol played quick innings of 35 off 19 balls. Openers Deandra Dottin and Priya Punia also played good knocks of 32 and 22 respectively as Novas ended with the highest ever total in the Women's T20 Challenge. For Trailblazers, Hayley Matthews scalped three wickets while Salma Khatun bagged two. While Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Poonam Yadav took one apiece. Opting to bat first, Supernovas enjoyed a good start as their score read 58/1 after the first six overs. The first and huge breakthrough for Trailblazers came in the 5th over off Arundhati Reddy. Opener Deandra Dottin was run out by Sharmin Akhter after the fielder castled the stumps directly. In the second over after the powerplay, Hayley Matthews uprooted the wickets of Priya Punia. Supernovas opener got beaten to the delivery attempting a pull and the ball shattered the stumps. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur then joined Harleen Deol on the crease as the duo started clocking runs for Novas at a rapid pace. 90/2 was the score at the end of the first half of the innings. On the first delivery of the 12th over, 100 came up for Supernovas after Harleen Deol paddle swept the ball past the keeper for 4 runs. But on the very next ball, bowler Salma Khatun had the last laugh as she trapped Harleen in front of wickets for LBW. The new batter on the field, Sune Luus never got going as Rajeshwari Gayakwad removed her in the 15th over. On a flighted delivery, Sune Luus drove the ball aerially toward the covers and found Renuka Singh. Wickets kept falling for Novas as Salma Khatun got her second of the night in form of Alana King in the very next over. Skipper Harmanpreet smashed two boundaries off Rajeshwari Gayakwad in the 17th over as Novas score read 142/5 going into the final three overs of their innings. Hayley Matthews leaked only seven runs in the 18th over. In the penultimate over Pooja Vastrakar and Harmanpreet Kaur were dismissed and 11 runs came out of it. The last over of the innings again saw Sophie Ecclestone, Meghna Singh, Chandu V losing their wickets as Novas failed to finish on high despite a good start. Supernovas ended their innings with 163 which is the highest of the tournament. Breif Scores: Supernovas 163 (Harmanpreet Kaur 37, Harleen Deol 35; Hayley Matthews 3-29) vs Trailblazers (ANI)
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