City girls maintain clean slate

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 7

Parul Saini claimed a four-wicket haul as Chandigarh defeated Sikkim by nine wickets to register their seventh successive win in the Women’s Senior One Day Trophy, at the Siechem Stadium in Puducherry today.

Brief scores Sikkim 93 all out in 42.2 overs (Ananya Upendran 19, Dichen Onsmu 18; Parul Saini 4/16, Nandani Sharma 2/14, Priyanka Guleria 2/20) lost to Chandigarh 94/1 in 20.3 overs (Manisha Badhan 30*, Priyanka Guleria 25*; Shristi Rai 1/14)

Electing to bat, Sikkim lost wickets at regular intervals and were all out for 93 runs in 42.2 overs. Parul was the wrecker-in-chief for Chandigarh, claiming 4/16 in her seven overs. Nandani Sharma (2/14) and Priyanka Guleria (2/20) bagged two wickets each.

Sikkim had a steady beginning as skipper Ananya Upendran and Tshering Yangden Lepcha added 33 runs in 16.4 overs before Priyanka struck the first blow for Chandigarh. Ananya was caught by Suman off Priyanka after scoring 19 runs off 52 balls.

Kumari Shibi sent back Tshering Yangden (11) in the next over, while Tshering Ongmu Lepcha (1) fell to Priyanka in the 21st over as Sikkim slumped to 38/3.

Archana and Sonam Yangzam added 12 runs to the total in 7.2 overs before Nandani struck twice in one over to spell more trouble for Sikkim. Archana departed after facing 37 balls for her 10, while Shubhi Pandey failed to open her account.

Chandigarh skipper Amanjot Kaur then brought Parul into the attack and the spinner dismissed Sonam (1), Munnu (4), Purni Maya Guruny (11) and Dichen Onsmu (18) to reduce Sikkim to 92/9.

Shristi Rai was the last wicket to fall in the Sikkim innings. She was stumped by Shivangi off Rajni Devi on zero. Tabita Subba remained not out on 10.

Needing to score just under two runs per over for victory, Chandigarh reached home in the 21st over with nine wickets to spare.

Manisha Badhan hit an unbeaten 30, while Priyanka contributed 25 runs to the chase. Monika Pandey was the only wicket to fall in the Chandigarh innings. She was dismissed by Shristi on 12.

With today’s victory, Chandigarh lead the Plate Group with 28 points from seven matches. Nagaland with 28 points from eight matches are placed second, while hosts Pondicherry are four points further behind in third place.

Amanjot-led side is scheduled to play Mizoram on March 9, while they will face Nagaland in their last league match on March 11.