The Quarter Finals of the Senior Women’s One Day Trophy 2024 saw Delhi edge past Vidarbha, Uttarakhand defeat Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra hand Tripura a loss and Railways extend their dominance with a win sealed against Rajasthan. These results set up interesting semi-finals and the encounters certainly lived up to the billing.
Here’s how the matches unfolded on the Semi Finals of Senior Women’s One Day Trophy 2024:
Semi-Final 1: Delhi vs Railways- Railways Won by 8 Runs
In this top-flight teams clash, Railways again showed why they are a clutch team in the knockouts as they pulled off a remarkable eight-run win versus Delhi at the Vadodara Cricket Academy Ground. Delhi won the toss and opted to field first. Railways kickstarted the proceedings with CH Jhansi Lakshmi and S Meghana. With the latter getting run out by Shweta Sehrawat early on for an unlikely 1 off 27 balls, S Meghana held one end and was joined in by wicket-keeper Nuzhat Parween.
With Meghana getting dismissed subsequently after the ever-consistent Parunika Sisodia got her, it was Mona who joined Nuzhat Parween at the crease and the duo began the resurrection effort. En route to a crucial partnership and keeping the scoring rate healthy, they stitched together 53 runs before Nuzhat was undone by Ayushi Soni.
While Mona was striking the ball well, she was clinical in keeping the innings in check as Dayalan Hemalatha gave her the perfect support from the other end and once again the duo stood out with their batting prowess and weaved a remarkable 59-run partnership. Once Hemalatha was dismissed for 29, it was Simran Dil Bahadur who stood up and delivered a knock of 29 before she was dismissed.
Eventually, an unbeaten 96 from Mona and Sneh Rana’s 24 off 16 that culminated in a partnership of 45, ensured Railways had a more than competitive 236/5 on the board. Delhi would be pleased with their effort with the ball as Parunika Sisodia struck with two crucial scalps with support coming in equal measure from Soni Yadav and Ayushi Soni.
Off to a decent start in the run-chase, despite losing Shweta Sehrawat for 1, Priya Punia and Pratika kept things afloat. With runs coming at a slow pace, the duo ground it out and were instrumental in a partnership of 83 from 150 balls. Punia was then dismissed caught and bowled by Sneh Rana for 35.
Tanisha Singh, another revelation for Delhi then joined in Pratika and the young duo were busy passengers who kept the run flow coming. But the dismissal of Pratika for a well-constructed knock of 62 was a jolt to Delhi. Laxmi Yadav’s stay at the crease did bring in 12 but Tanuja P Kanwer dismissed her. Even as Nazma stepped it up with a knock of 17, Delhi needed more stability.
With Ayushi Soni solid at one end, she did get support from Soni Yadav with a knock of 22 but with wickets constantly falling, the run-chase for Delhi slowly started slipping away. Soni ended with a well-played 42 but Delhi fell short of the total by 8 runs which meant a good bowling display led by Kanwer and Rana ensured Railways grabbed a spot in the final of the Senior Women’s One Day Trophy 2024.
Semi Final 2: Uttarakhand versus Maharashtra – Uttarakhand Won by 8 Runs
In another semi-final that saw the losing team exit the tournament by a margin of 8 runs- Uttarakhand emerged victorious handing Maharashtra an eight-run defeat at the Infipro Sports Club Ground in Vadodara. Once again, Maharashtra won the toss and elected to field first.
Uttarakhand in their first essay got to 201/7. Driven by the 51 scored by the experienced campaigner Punam Raut, the loss of Jasia Akhter, Raghvi and the centurion from the previous game, Sarika Koli did not augur well for them.
Kanchan Parihar was timing the ball beautifully in her knock of 60 and the crucial partnership with Punam Raut helped Uttarakhand counteract the loss of wickets. With the late blitz of 25 coming in from Ekta Bisht, Uttarakhand posted a defendable 201/7. For Maharashtra, it was S B Pokharkar, and Devika Vaidya with support from A A Patil and A A Gaikwad that was imperative and set the tone for the total.
Maharashtra was off to a rocky start losing K N Mulla and Kiran Navgire early on as the new ball bowler Mansi Joshi ensured this early inroads into their batting with the prized wickets. T S Hasabnis was batting with a lot of promise from one end even as wickets continuously fell in clums around her.
M R Magre and Devika Vaidya could not make the most of the conditions and with AA Gaikwad and A A Patil lending some support to Hasabnis, they were not enduring partnerships to bail the team out of trouble. Their dismissals saw a domino effect with other batters following suit and Hasabnis was out for a well-played 105 that signalled the end of Maharashtra’s innings and their stay in the tournament as they slipped to an eight-run loss, quite similarly to Delhi in the first semi-final versus Railways.
The outcome of these semi-finals of Senior Women’s One Day Trophy 2024 sets us up for a mouth-watering and tantalising Railways versus Uttarakhand clash on the 26th of January at the Infipro Sports Club Ground in Vadodara.
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