Shobha, Kirti help UP continue winning
LUCKNOW :A fine half-century by young Shobha Devi and tidy spells by spinners helped favourites Uttar Pradesh continue their winning streak in the Senior Women’s One Day Trophy, registering a convincing 30-run win against Rajasthan at Surat on Thursday.
Now after fetching four more points from this win, Uttar Pradesh lead the tally of Elite Group C with eighth points jointly with Madhya Pradesh, who also have two wins as many as matches so far. UP now play their next match against Saurashtra on Sunday.
Showing a great consistency with willow, Shobha, who hails from Hiamuli village in Hamirpur in Banda district, smashed 105-ball 75 with the help of eight fours and a six to guide Uttar Pradesh post a challenging 212/9, at the CK Pithawala Ground. In reply, Rajasthan, which saw some fine batting in the middle, could make 182 in 47 overs.
Shobha, who had an important contribution of 31 runs in the win against Assam in the opening encounter on Wednesday, and in-form Nishu Choudhary stitched together 75-run for the fourth-wicket to stead the innings after Uttar Pradesh lost three quick wickets for just 47 after being sent to bat first by the Rajasthan skipper.
The two defied the Rajasthan bowlers able, hitting powerful strokes around the ropes. Shobha was stumped by JD Choudhary off AK Choudhary, whereas Nishu was also caught by stumper Choudhary off RG Tak, but her 63-ball 41, which contained six hits to the fence, was good enough to help the side post a challenging target for the rivals to chase.
It wasn’t a good start for UP as they lost wickets on regular intervals in the first 10 overs. Opener Shashi (17, 13b, 4x4) edged a regulation catch to keeper Choudhary off SS Kalal, before other opener Anita Lodhi (9, 18b, 2x4) offered a straight catch to Kalal off Tak. Skipper Aditi could make just five before being caught by Tak off Kalal.
With the scoreboard reading 3/47 in 10.3 overs, a quick fall looked almost eminent, but both Shobha and Nishu didn’t lose heart and kept the scoreboard ticking on a brisk pace with some good batting. Sweta (19) and Meghna Singh (17*) too made handy contributions at the end. AK Choudhary remained the most successful bowler for Rajasthan, bagging 3/29, whereas Kalal and Tak shared four wickets between them.
Rajasthan too had a shaky start when they began the run chase as they lost two quick wickets for just 13 in the 3.5 overs. SR Jat (4) was trapped leg before wicket by Rashi Kanojiya on a slower one, whereas AD Garg (3) was run out by Shashi. But the sudden fall of wickets didn’t make a difference to other opener PB Sharma, who went on scoring a fine half-century under pressure.
Sharma, who scored 100-ball 63 with the help of five hits to the fence before being bowled by Kirti, added 109-run for the thirdwicket with TB Vaishnav, who before being stumped by Sweta off Aditi, struck 61 in 95 balls with the help of six boundaries.
In fact, Vaishnav’s departure in the 33rd over, slowed down Rajasthan’s run chase and their efforts finally came to end in the 47th over.
Offie Kirti bowled a tight line to bag 3/38, whereas skipper Aditi and Kajal bagged two wickets each. BRIEF SCORES UP 212/9 in 50 overs
(Shobha Devi75, Nishu Choudhary 41, AK Choudhary 3/29, SS Kalal 2/23, RG Tak 2/53) beat Rajasthan 182 in 47 overs (PB Sharma 63, TB Vaishnav 61, Kirti 3/38, Aditi 2/28, Kajal 2/29).