Harmanpreet Kaur led Supernovas won the inaugural T20 Exhibition match in 2018. They repeated their form last year in the Women’s T20 Challenge and despite losing the first match by a whisker, they came back strong. They won against Velocity and qualified for the final. In the final, they had defeated Velocity by 4 wickets.
Batting first, Velocity reached 125 due to the efforts of Amelia Kerr and Sushma Verma. Supernovas were 64/5 in the 14th over, but skipper Harmanpreet scored a brilliant 51 of 37 and was heading towards a victory. Though she fell to Kerr in the last over, Radha Yadav finished the job for her team to win the title for the 2nd time in a row.
Women’s T20 Challenge 2019 Result: Champion
Team Analysis:
Harmanpreet lead Supernovas, who won the two back to back title will be looking to continue their domination. They have chipped in with three new recruits in the form of Shashikala Siriwardene, Shakera Selman, Ayabonga Khaka. While Siriwardene will look to consolidate the middle order along with Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur, two overseas fast bowlers will boost the seam attack.
Chamari Atapattu will join Priya Punia in the top of the order. Both of them would like to give Novas a good start. Harmanpreet was not in touch in the World T-20. India’s fragile middle order, dependent upon her failure to build the innings upon the start that Verma gave. Lack of runs from Harmanpreet made the situation worst.
ALSO READ: Women’s T20 Challenge 2020 Team Review: Top Heavy Velocity Depends on The Spin Web
Harman whose 51 in the final, last years against Velocity confirmed the title, will look to find her form back this year as well. Jemimah Rodrigues who has not scored big after her 77 against Velocity is eager to show her class once again.
The spin bowling department will be taken care off by Anuja Patil, Radha Yadav and Poonam Yadav. Both Radha Yadav and Poonam Yadav is a regular member of the Indian t-20 side and skipper Harman will look towards them for wickets in the middle overs. Economical Radha Yadav who has taken 49 T20I wickets can be used in the opening overs too.
Poonam Yadav the leg spinner has been the highest wicket-taker in the last 12 months while both her economy and strike rate speaks in favour of her. Their spinners Poonam Yadav and Radha Yadav are among the top 10 in the T20 bowling charts. Anuja Patil too can turn out to handy with her off-spin and can fetch them some runs, lower down the order.
The Sharjah pitch was a batting paradise for teams in the first half of IPL 2020, which saw totals in excess of 200. However, there was a marked slowing down of the surface as the tournament went on. In this scenario, all of them can turn out to be handy.
ALSO READ: Mansi Joshi To Miss Women’s T20 Challenge, Meghna Singh Replaces Her In Velocity Squad
Shakera Selman and Ayabonga Khaka, both of them known for their raw pace in the t-20 circuit. Selman has been the part of Trailblazers last season and did well in the initial spells. Her economy is less than 6 in the international matches and Harmanpreet will look up to her to check the run against the likes of Smriti Mandhana and Shefali Verma in the power-play.
On the other-hand Khaka who can move the ball in towards the right-hand batter will be crucial to handle. It would be interesting to watch how the batters face these bowlers from both ends. A bunch of Indian fast bowlers like Pooja Vastrakar and Ayushi Soni can share the workload if they make it to the final XI.
Super Novas need to get a good start in order to give their middle-order something upon which they can build the innings. Harmanpreet and Jemimah who have failed in the fire till now will look to prove their point.
Squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Jemimah Rodrigues (VC), Chamari Atapattu, Priya Punia, Anuja Patil, Radha Yadav, Taniya Bhatia (WK), Shashikala Siriwardene, Poonam Yadav, Shakera Selman, Arundhati Reddy, Pooja Vastrakar, Ayushi Soni, Ayabonga Khaka, Muskan Malik
In: Shashikala Siriwardene, Shakera Selman, Muskan Malik, Ayabonga Khaka, Pooja Vastrakar, Ayushi Soni
Out: Lea Tahuhu, Natalie Sciver, Mansi Joshi, Sophie Devine
Probable XI: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Jemimah Rodrigues, Chamari Atapattu, Priya Punia, Anuja Patil, Radha Yadav, Taniya Bhatia (WK), Shashikala Siriwardene, Poonam Yadav, Shakera Selman, Ayabonga Khaka
