da marjack bet： Indian Railways executed a ridiculously easy nine wicket victory overNorth Zone in the CricInfo Rani Jhansi Trophy at the SRMC ground inChennai today
Sankhya Krishnan06-Apr-2000Indian Railways executed a ridiculously easy nine wicket victory overNorth Zone in the CricInfo Rani Jhansi Trophy at the SRMC ground inChennai today. After winning the toss and electing to bat, North werebundled out for the lowest score of the tournament so far, mustering amere 49 runs that left their opponents with the modest requirement ofscoring 50 runs in 50 overs to win the match. Rupanjali Shastri hadthe 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 inseven overs. Railways proceeded to polish off the match in the 14thover to take home their fourth successive triumph. Rupanjali andRajini Sharma delivered the final touches by adding an unbroken 49 forthe second wicket.North openers Rakhi Mehra and Gulshan Sharma provided the brightestmoment of the innings with a stand of 24 in just under 12 overs, withGulshan even having the temerity to score a boundary to third man. Butafter she gave the simplest of return catches to the left arm mediumpacer, Umesh Chaudhary, a procession began to and from the crease evenas injured North captain, Richa Dubey, still undergoing treatment fora knee problem, watched resignedly from the sidelines.Reema Malhotra had hardly got her eye in before trying to pull Umeshaway into the nether regions of the on side. She missed and astraightforward leg before decision was handed out. RupanjaliShastri’s loping off breaks were introduced in the 15th over and shefrustrated the batsmen with a skilled line. But the next two wicketswere to fall unassisted by the bowlers. On both occasions Gurdeep Kaurplayed the ball into the covers and called but while she made herground safely, her partners, Rakhi Mehra and Rajni Bhalla did not. Thefielder involved in both runouts was Poornima Chaudhary.Anjuman Bassi came and went for a duck, with a simple top edge beingsnaffled by the bowler, left arm spinner, Neetu David. Two balls laterGurdeep was gone as well, after scratching around for 37 balls to make5, when Neetu induced a leading edge that was well taken over her headby Rupanjali at first slip. The scoreboard was not a pretty sight at38/6 and it ceased to be prettier still when, one run later, Asha Jaingifted her wicket by lobbing Rupanjali straight to Hemlata Kala at midoff for another duck.Seema Wadhwa and Vandna Gupta put on a gallant nine runs for theeighth wicket during which the former was dropped by Rupanjali atfirst slip, off Neetu. Railways captain, Deepa Kulkarni, finallydecided to play a more active role in the destruction, and finishedoff the innings in the 35th over, taking two of the last three wicketsto fall. Reema’s 14 was the highest score, with all but the twoopeners failing to reach double figures.North’s batswomen had lasted just over two hours and twenty minutesand Railways began their innings before the luncheon interval. Theysuffered an early hiccup, in the second over, when Poornima Chaudhuryfailed to clear Anjuman at midwicket as Asha tempted her into pullinga short of length delivery. Rajini Sharma joined Rupanjali and, afteran initial period of guardedness, the floodgates gradually opened withRupanjali cutting Vandna to the square third man fence in the seventhover. The batswomen had to be content with threes on several occasionsas the ball slowed down in the neighbourhood of the boundary line. At1.00 p.m., both captains consented to postpone their lunch in thepursuit of a result. Sure enough, the mockery of a contest came to amerciful halt with the clock reading twelve minutes past one afterboth Rajni and Rupanjali ravished Anjuman with a boundary apiece inthe 14th and last over of the innings.