East takes on South for the honours
East Zone, led by Deepti Sharma, and the Minnu Manihelmed South Zone will fight for long format supremacy in the summit clash of the senior women’s interzonal multi day Trophy, at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, here on Tuesday.
South, along with a Harmanpreet Kaurled North, had made a direct entry to the semifinal stage by virtue of a draw of lots. North suffered a crushing 135run defeat at the hands of Deepti and Co, while Minnu’s side, despite a draw against Smriti Mandhanaled West Zone, booked a spot in the final courtesy a first innings lead.
East comes into the final with more matchtime under its belt. Having played a quarterfinal, where it thrashed North East, the side will hope to carry the momentum forward as it goes up against a sprightly South unit.
North’s bowlers gave East a harder time in the semifinal clash, bowling the latter out just 132 in the first innings.
However, Mamta Paswan (with a fivefor) and Deepti (four) bowled their opponent out for 144. Dhara’s half century paved the way for a competitive 282 for nine in the second innings. Shafali Verma’s 49 had little help from the rest of her side as Deepti’s sixwicket haul helped her side to a big win.
Sajeevan Sajana’s 74, aided by Arundhati Reddy’s 85, took South to 289 in the first innings its semifinal against West.
Devika Vaidya and Yastika Bhatia gave West’s response an early push. Smriti’s 30 along with Radha Yadav’s unbeaten 39 helped West to 230.
South batted out the final day, with Tamanna Nigam (99) and Miriyala Durga (81) grinding it out.
The first innings lead came in handy for Minnu and Co.
All eyes will be on Deepti in this summit clash. She leads the charts with 17 wickets from two games and will hope to add to that tally against South.
This is also a good chance for players vying for an India cap to show their mettle in the longest format with India showing an interest in more international red ball cricket over the past few years.