T20 exhibition tie: Thriller at Wankhede amidst poor turn-out

Supernovas' Megan Schutt celebrates the wicket of Trailblazers' Beth Mooney in the women's T20 match at Wankhede yesterday. Pic/PTI

On the eve of the T20 exhibition match for women cricketers, Smriti Mandhana, the captain of the Trailblazers, had termed the occasion as a historical one. Yesterday's T20 match was introduced to test the waters for a women's T20 league like the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Though the game between Trailblazers and Supernovas ended in a thriller with the latter achieving the 130-run target off the last ball for a three-wicket win, the game could not build excitement and boost the atmosphere at Wankhede Stadium.

That it wouldn't be a full house was expected considering the weekday. The sweltering heat would have prevented people from filling the stands which they did for the evening match between Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

However, to the organisers' disappointment, the ones who made it to the ground were either the players' family members, volunteers or security guards. The women cricketers hardly let the poor turn-out affect their excitement. Ellyse Perry (13 not out) and Pooja Vastrakar (two not out) took the game down the wire and won it off the final delivery.

Supernovas were cruising after Mithali Raj (22), Danielle Wyatt (24) put on a solid 47-run opening stand. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur put her team in a better position, but Trailblazers got back into the game with some tight bowling from Jhulan Goswami and Suzie Bates as they conceded just 12 runs from Overs 16 to 18.

Ekta Bisht's penultimate over went for just six runs, leaving the Supernovas to score four runs from the final over. New Zealand's Bates (3-0-16-2) put her experience to good use, but couldn't prevent the defeat.

Also Read: Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana Excited About T20-Style Tie

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