Radha, Shafali keep slate clean

India remain unbeaten, will play No. 2 team in Group B in semis

Melbourne, February 29

Left-arm spinner Radha Yadav flummoxed the Sri Lankan batting line-up with a career-best 4/23 before Shafali Verma’s blistering 34-ball 47 powered India to a 7-wicket win in their last Group A match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.

Opting to bat, Sri Lanka were restricted to a modest 113/9 with Radha (4/23) running through their line-up, also earning the prized scalp of skipper Chamari Atapattu. India then easily chased down the target in 14.4 overs, with Shafali top-scoring for India for the third time in four wins. The 16-year-old, who was dropped on 5 and 13, hit seven fours and one six. Shafali was unable to reach her 50, falling in the 40s for the second time in the tournament, getting run-out in the 11th over.

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and opener Smriti Mandhana again squandered their good starts, departing for 15 and 17, respectively. Mandhana mistimed the ball to Kavisha Dilhari in the fifth over while the skipper departed trying to clear the long-on fielder in the 10th over. Later Jemimah Rodrigues (15) and Deepti Sharma (15) sealed the victory.

Earlier, Sri Lanka lost opener Umesha Thimashini (2) early when she attempted big shot off Deepti Sharma. In-from skipper Chamari (33) continued to attack, hitting five fours and one six, and stitched a 30-run partnership with Harshitha Madavi (12). The introduction of Radha in the ninth over worked as immediately after hitting a six over deep mid-wicket, Chamari was caught at square-leg. The Indian spinners dominated the proceedings thereafter.

4 India’s fourth successive victory put them in the semifinals with an all-win record. They will next take on the No. 2 side in Group B

Diksha Dagar 4th, Aditi 8th

Dubbo (Australia), February 29

Diksha Dagar recovered superbly from a terrible patch on the front nine to return a 1-under 71 in the third round of the Women’s New South Wales Open. Diksha, who was 10-under at one stage before dropping five shots in three holes from 4th and 6th, fought back with four birdies in the remaining holes to get to 8-under at Dubbo Golf Club. However, with Belgian Manon de Roey striking brilliant form with a 6-under 66, Diksha finds herself seven shots behind the leader, who is 15-under and five ahead of the second-placed Julia Engstrom (68). Aditi Ashok carded a 2-under 70 and moved up to tied-8th at a 5-under 211.

Atwal misses cut by seven shots in Honda Classic

Palm Beach Gardens (US): Arjun Atwal shot a second straight 75 and missed the cut by seven shots in the second round of the Honda Classic. Brendan Steele shot a 3-under 67 to reach 5-under for the week and took a 1-shot lead over JT Poston (69), Lee Westwood (69) and Luke Donald (66) after the second round.

Chawrasia slips to 52nd in Oman

Muscat: SSP Chawrasia shot an even-par 72 with three birdies and three bogeys to stay at 1-under and tied-52nd after the third round at the Oman Open. Former champion Joost Luiten was in a six-way tie for the lead after 54 holes. The Dutch had a bogey-free 67 on Day 3 and moved to 11-under but had plenty of company at the top of the leaderboard. — Agencies

Majumdar revives Bengal

Kolkata, February 29

Anustup Majumdar struck an unbeaten century after a top-order collapse to take Bengal to 275/9 on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy semifinal against Karnataka. Fresh from his career-best 157 from a similar position in the quarterfinals, Majumdar slammed 120 not out to revive the Bengal innings after they were asked to bat first.

The first day’s play also saw the first dismissal via DRS in domestic cricket when Karnataka pace spearhead Abhimanyu Mithun got the wicket of Abhishek Raman (0) on the 16th delivery of the innings.

At 62/4, Bengal were staring down the barrel with their top batsmen, including skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran (15) and Manoj Tiwary (8), back in the pavilion after playing reckless shots. Tiwary was caught by KL Rahul when he tried to hit off-spinner Krishnappa Gowtham across the line, and No. 6 Majumdar walked in. But there was worse to follow for Bengal as Karnataka pacer Ronit More dismissed a well-set Sudip Chatterjee (20) and Shreevats Goswami (0) in four balls, and the home side were tottering at 67/6 at lunch.

But Majumdar revived the innings in the last two sessions, adding 72 with Shahbaz Nadeem and 103 for the ninth wicket with Akash Deep (44).

Gujarat restrict Saurashtra to 217/5

Rajkot: Powered by Arzan Nagwaswalla’s three-wicket haul, Gujarat restricted Saurashtra to 217/5 on the opening day of their semifinal. For the hosts, Sheldon Jackson and Chirag Jani fought back with a 55-run stand for the sixth wicket. Jackson was unbeaten on 69 at the end of the day while Jani was on 16. Saurashtra openers Harvik Desai (35) and Kishan Parmar (37) gave the hosts a sedate start but Parmar was cleaned up by left-arm spinner Axar Patel (2/47). The openers added 62 runs for the first wicket. — PTI

Brief Scores:

Bengal: 275/9 (Anustup Majumdar 120*; Akash Deep 44, Shahbaz Ahmed 35; Abhimanyu Mithun 3/65); Karnataka

Saurashtra: 217/5 (Sheldon Jackson 69*; Kishan Parmar 37; Arzan Nagwaswalla 3/40); Gujarat