da betano casino： West Zone lost an absolute humdinger to Air India in the CricInfo RaniJhansi Trophy in Chennai today
da cassino online： Anand Vasu07-Apr-2000West Zone lost an absolute humdinger to Air India in the CricInfo RaniJhansi Trophy in Chennai today. Losing by just five runs to an AirIndia side that was made to work hard for victory, West Zone settledonce more for silver in a big match. Despite a fighting 51 fromskipper Kalyani, West Zone could not make the required runs.Chasing 152, West Zone got off to a bad start, losing Amrutha Shindeearly in the innings. Arti Vaidya looked confident while she tookstrike, stroking the ball effortlessly through the off side. Coming tothe pitch of the ball, she used the angled bat to great effect,carving the ball through the gaps in the off side. However when shewas going strong on 14 she tried to force the ball through the offsideoff the bowling of mediumpacer Smita Harikrishna. The ball flew offthe face of the bat towards Manju Nadoda at slip. Sticking her righthand out in a split second, she plucked the ball out of the air justbefore it hit the ground.In walked captain Kalyani Umbrani. She started slowly, content onpushing the ball into the gaps for ones and twos. As the overs piledon, the asking rate steadily crept up towards the six an overmark. Vice captain Sunetra Parajape played steadily at the otherend. However, she perished just when things began to look solid forWest Zone.After Sunetra was dismissed, things began to look decidedly better forAir India. Sangeetha Kamat played a few good shots but could notsustain her aggression. Sulakshana Naik, drafted into the side tobolster the batting, livened up the proceedings with a pugnaciousknock. Hitting cleanly through the line, she narrowed the gap betweenballs remaining and runs required. Sweeping the off spinners, she gaveWest a glimmer of hope. When she ran herself out pushing hard for arun that was simply not on, things were all but over.Kalyani toiled bravely at the other end, but the pressure soon got toher as well. Till the end she showed enormous reserves of patience,waiting for the loose ball. When she made the fatal error ofattempting to swing medium pacer Kusumalatha across the line, AirIndia had sealed the game. Kalyani had done well, making 51, but hadnot done enough.Chandarani Kamble and Ashwini Nadkarni found the task at hand too bigto handle and could only pick ones and twos. When the last ball wasdelivered and only a single taken off it, Air India had won by aslender margin.Earlier in the day West Zone lost its fifth consecutive toss and wereasked to field. Beginning well, skipper Kalyani and Neelima Waghmaregot into rhythm immediately. Neelima has been right on the spot in thetournament so far, with returns of 2/17 from the last 20 overs she hadbowled. Today was no exception. Bowling her overs on the trot as shehas done so far in the tournament, Neelima troubled Purnima from theword go. When Purnima brought her bat down a shade late to a quickerdelivery, the ball squirted through bat and pad and dislodged thebails.Anjum Chopra, who made a flawless unbeaten 89 in her last innings,joined Anju Jain at the wicket. Anju grew more confident as the oversrolled by and chanced her arm against off spinner Sonali Chandok. Anjuwas lucky to be at the crease after three overs from the offspinner. Coming down the wicket she was totally beaten and only alapse from wicketkeeper Ashwini Nadkarni let her off. However, shecashed in on the chance and went on to hit the ball crisply throughthe line.Anju continued to strike the ball well, till she began to play acrossthe line. Attempting to hit Sonali over the onside with the spin, shecame very close to being caught at midwicket on more than oneoccasion. The ball eluded the fielder and it looked like it would beAnju’s day.Neelima finished her 10 overs for just 27 runs and captured the allimportant wicket of Air India captain Purnima Rau.Anjum Chopra too looked comfortable at the wicket. Turning the ballbehind the wicket with ease, she grafted for runs. When she hit theball to Sangeetha Kamat at mid on and took off for a quick single shewas struggling. Sangeetha, one of the better fielders of thetournament so far swooped in on the ball, picked up with one hand andlet the throw rip. The ball nailed middle stump and Anjum was wellshort of her ground.With two of the top three back in the pavilion and just 37 on theboard, Air India would have worried a bit. There was more cause forworry as Anju skied a catch to Neelima at mid off. Beaten in theflight and just a shade off the wicket, Anju could not get to thepitch of the ball and Sonali was rewarded for a good spell. Once gainSonali had shown that it was not essential to bowl flat to keep thingstight. Giving the ball a lot of air she enticed the batswomen intofalse shots on many occasions without luck. She ended with a return of1/29 from her 10 overs.After the top three were dismissed, West Zone managed to keep thingsquiet. In turn the Air India team felt the pressure, having lost quickwickets. Sangeetha Kamat was pressed into action to bowl hermediumpacers and she was steady as ever. While not tumbling, wicketsfell at regular enough intervals to stifle the scoring rate. Sangeethahelped herself to 2/22 off 9 overs.In the last few overs, Air India managed to up their scoring rate withsome crisp shots to the outfield. Air India ended on 152. DeepaliPatkar and Manju Nadguda were the two unbeaten batswomen with 15 and31 respectively.At the end of the day it was the experience of Air India skipperPurnima Rau that made the difference. It was again a case of West Zonelooking good for glory but having to settle for a pat on the back. Itwill be to their credit that they gave Air India a serious run fortheir money. However, there will be players in the West Zone camp whowill believe that they lost a match they should have won. That is notvery far from the truth.
