Chamari Atapattu stars as Supernovas beat Trailblazers to reach finals

Powered by a quick-fire half-century from Sri Lankan Chamari Atapattu, two-time champions Supernovas reached their third consecutive final with a narrow two-run victory over Trailblazers in a last-ball thriller at the Women’s T20 Challenge on Saturday.

The Harmanpreet Kaur-led Supernovas will yet again take on Trailblazers captained by Smriti Mandhana in Monday’s final.

Although, after the final league game, all three teams ended with two points each, Supernovas (-0.054) and Trailblazers (+2.109) qualified due to their better net-rate than Velocity (-1.869) in the competition.

Electing to bat first, Atapattu laid the foundation with an aggressive 47-ball 67, which was studded with five fours and four sixes. Skipper Harmanpreet then played some big shots (31 off 29) to take the team to 146/6.

Coming out to chase, Deepti Sharma (43 not out) and Harleen Deol (27 off 15 balls) took the chase deep but Trailblazers could only manage 144/5 in the end, courtesy of a superb last over by left-arm spinner Radha Yadav (2/30).

For Supernovas, the spinners did a fine job with Anuja Patel (1/18) and Radha drying up runs in the middle.

Trailblazers were off to a good start to their chase with Deandra Dottin (27) and Smriti Mandhana (33) raising 43 for no loss in the first six overs.

But medium-pacer Shakera Selman turned the game on its heels as she struck twice in the seventh over, first trapping Dottin in front of the wicket and then cleaning up Richa Ghosh (4).

Deepti and Mandhana tried to repair the innings but Anuja, who came in for Pooja Vastrakar, caught and bowled the skipper in the 13th over to reduce Trailblazers to 83/3.

Although Deepti then kept them in the hunt, Trailblazers could only score seven out of the 10 runs required in the last over.

Earlier, Atapattu notched up the first fifty of the competition and added 87 for the opening wicket with Priya Punia (30 off 37).

However, Trailblazers spinners Harleen (1/34) and Salma Khatun (1/25) pulled things back after 10 overs, giving away just 23 runs in the next five overs.

Atapattu amassed a massive 14 runs in the 16th over with a four and six, while Harmanpreet exploded in the 19th over, smashing a four and a six to pile up 15 runs to swell the total.

Left-handed opener Atapattu looked for runs from the get-go and made her intentions clear with two boundaries in the second over of the innings bowled by Deepti Sharma.

Atapattu’s opening partner Priya Punia, who got off the mark in her ninth ball, played second fiddle as the duo scored fifty in the powerplay.

Priya, on 17, got a reprieve when Dottin dropped a catch off Rajeshwari Gaikwad’s bowling.

The two kept scoring at a brisk rate with Atapattu not afraid to go for lofted shots, while Priya too rotated the strike and also picked up three boundaries.

Priya fell when her attempt to clear the fence saw Deepti pull off a superb catch running forward off Khatun. She added 89 runs for the first wicket with Atapattu.

Atapattu reached her fifty from 37 deliveries with a powerful sweep off Harleen.

The Sri Lankan was holed out by Hemalatha off Harleen’s tossed up delivery in the 17th over.

For Trailblazers, experienced Jhulan Goswami was the best bowler with figures of one for 17 from 4 overs, while Harleen and Khatun picked up a wicket each. There were also three run-outs in Supernovas’ innings.