Indian Railways executed a ridiculously easy nine wicket victory over
North Zone in the CricInfo Rani Jhansi Trophy at the SRMC ground in
Chennai today
Sankhya Krishnan06-Apr-2000Indian Railways executed a ridiculously easy nine wicket victory over
North Zone in the CricInfo Rani Jhansi Trophy at the SRMC ground in
Chennai today. After winning the toss and electing to bat, North were
bundled out for the lowest score of the tournament so far, mustering a
mere 49 runs that left their opponents with the modest requirement of
scoring 50 runs in 50 overs to win the match. Rupanjali Shastri had
the most miserly figures amongst the three Railways spinners of 10-5-
6-1 but Neetu David left a greater trail of destruction, taking 3/8 in
seven overs. Railways proceeded to polish off the match in the 14th
over to take home their fourth successive triumph. Rupanjali and
Rajini Sharma delivered the final touches by adding an unbroken 49 for
the second wicket.North openers Rakhi Mehra and Gulshan Sharma provided the brightest
moment of the innings with a stand of 24 in just under 12 overs, with
Gulshan even having the temerity to score a boundary to third man. But
after she gave the simplest of return catches to the left arm medium
pacer, Umesh Chaudhary, a procession began to and from the crease even
as injured North captain, Richa Dubey, still undergoing treatment for
a knee problem, watched resignedly from the sidelines.Reema Malhotra had hardly got her eye in before trying to pull Umesh
away into the nether regions of the on side. She missed and a
straightforward leg before decision was handed out. Rupanjali
Shastri’s loping off breaks were introduced in the 15th over and she
frustrated the batsmen with a skilled line. But the next two wickets
were to fall unassisted by the bowlers. On both occasions Gurdeep Kaur
played the ball into the covers and called but while she made her
ground safely, her partners, Rakhi Mehra and Rajni Bhalla did not. The
fielder involved in both runouts was Poornima Chaudhary.Anjuman Bassi came and went for a duck, with a simple top edge being
snaffled by the bowler, left arm spinner, Neetu David. Two balls later
Gurdeep was gone as well, after scratching around for 37 balls to make
5, when Neetu induced a leading edge that was well taken over her head
by Rupanjali at first slip. The scoreboard was not a pretty sight at
38/6 and it ceased to be prettier still when, one run later, Asha Jain
gifted her wicket by lobbing Rupanjali straight to Hemlata Kala at mid
off for another duck.Seema Wadhwa and Vandna Gupta put on a gallant nine runs for the
eighth wicket during which the former was dropped by Rupanjali at
first slip, off Neetu. Railways captain, Deepa Kulkarni, finally
decided to play a more active role in the destruction, and finished
off the innings in the 35th over, taking two of the last three wickets
to fall. Reema’s 14 was the highest score, with all but the two
openers failing to reach double figures.North’s batswomen had lasted just over two hours and twenty minutes
and Railways began their innings before the luncheon interval. They
suffered an early hiccup, in the second over, when Poornima Chaudhury
failed to clear Anjuman at midwicket as Asha tempted her into pulling
a short of length delivery. Rajini Sharma joined Rupanjali and, after
an initial period of guardedness, the floodgates gradually opened with
Rupanjali cutting Vandna to the square third man fence in the seventh
over. The batswomen had to be content with threes on several occasions
as the ball slowed down in the neighbourhood of the boundary line. At
1.00 p.m., both captains consented to postpone their lunch in the
pursuit of a result. Sure enough, the mockery of a contest came to a
merciful halt with the clock reading twelve minutes past one after
both Rajni and Rupanjali ravished Anjuman with a boundary apiece in
the 14th and last over of the innings.
