Arundhati Reddy, Priya Punia guide India Green to victory

India Green start their campaign with a wonderful victory over India Blue in the BCCI Women’s T20 Challenger Trophy in Alur. India Blue faced another loss after having lost against India Red in the first match of the tournament yesterday.

Captain of India Green, Veda Krishnamurthy won the toss and decided to field first in the rain-affected game. India Blue captain Mithali Raj and Vanitha VR started their innings. Due to some wonderful spell from India Green bowlers, India Blue managed to score only 25 runs in the first six overs. Soon after that, Mithali Raj lost her wicket to Arundhati Reddy for 6.

After her dismissal, the other opener Vanitha VR and Neha Tanwar too joined her in the pavilion. They scored 35 and 9 respectively. Due to the fall of wickets at a regular interval, India Blue couldn't manage to build a steady partnership. Anuja Patil's 14 off 19 and Radha Yadav's 11* off 8 helped India Blue to put up 82 runs at the end of the 17 overs; as the match was reduced to 17 overs due to rain.

Arundhati Reddy picked up 2 wickets while Jhulan Goswami, K Chaudhuri and M Das scalped a wicket each for India Green.

While chasing, it looked like an easy job for India Green; as the target was mere 84. Openers Jemimah Rodrigues and Priya Punia started off really well. However, Radha Yadav gave the first breakthrough to her team. She picked up Rodrigues in the 5th over for 10 runs. The other opener Priya Punia picked up the anchor's role and started hitting all over the park. She scored an unbeaten 46 off 51 with a four and 4 sixes. Along with her knock, Veda Krishnamurthy's 11 off 14 helped her team to win by 7 wickets through the VJD method.

Anuja Patil, Radha Yadav and Poonam Yadav bagged 1-wicket each for India Blue.

India Green will now face India Red tomorrow while India Blue will play their next match against India Red on 17th August.