India B to face India D U-19 One-Day Challenger Trophy final

Anushka Sharma's India B will take on India D led by Neelam Bhardwaj in the final of the Under-19 One-Day Challenger Trophy. India B finished unbeaten in the group stages defeating the D side by three wickets in Jaipur on Friday (November 5). In the other fixture of the day, India C beat India A by 67 runs to finish third in the points table. Final will be played at the RCA Academy Ground on November 7.



At the K L Saini Stadium, India D lost Shewta Sawant early after opting to bat first. In-form Sonia Mendhiya couldn’t score much and was run out for six. Bhardwaj, batting at four, took the score to 72 in the company of Neha Sharma before the latter fell to Anushka for 20.



From there, Bhardwaj and Anaya Garg formed a crucial partnership for India D with a 68-run stand. While Garg played second fiddle to her skipper, Bhardwaj found boundaries at regular intervals in her knock of 106 balls. She reached her fifty from 86 balls as India D went past 150 in the 47^th over.



Thanks to Bhardwaj’s unbeaten 71, India D eventually finished on 166 for four from the stipulated 50 overs. Jintimani Kalita, Dikcha Gurung and Anushka picked up one wicket each for India B.



In the chase, India B were in trouble losing three early wickets including that of Anushka with Raghvi Bisht accounting for two wickets. From 29 for three, G Trisha – who scored a century in the first match – and Shikha steadied India B’s innings to take them over the three-figure mark.



Trisha and Shikha put on 86 runs for the fourth wicket before Mendhiya removed Shikha for 40 in the 36^th over. Even though they lost three more wickets in quick succession, Pragati Singh and Sonam Yadav took India B over the line in the 47^th over.



For India D, Bisht finished with impressive figures of four for 14 from her ten overs.



In the other fixture at the RCA Academy Ground, India C scored 197 for six from their 50 overs thanks to Soumya Tiwari’s unbeaten 58 and her 62-run partnership with Falak Naz. Naz was the aggressor and her 45-run knock came from just 29 balls.



For India A, Muskan Sogi and skipper Chandasi Krishnamurthy picked up two wickets each.



In reply, India A kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were 59 for six at one stage. Uttarakhand’s Pooja Raj wreaked havoc removing all four of the top-order. Titas Sadhu and Srilekha Roy added 34 runs for the seventh wicket, but Naz removed Roy to break the partnership in the 32^nd over.



Sadhu took the score to 120 before she became Raj’s fifth wicket and with that India A’s hope of finishing the tournament with a win also went as they were bowled out for 130.



For India C, Raj was the most successful bowler with figures of five for 18 from her eight overs, while Sakshi S Thakur picked up two wickets.



Brief Scores:



India D 166/4 in 50 overs (Neelam Bhardwaj 71*; Jintimani Kalita 1/11) lost to India B 169/7 in 46.3 overs (G Trisha 54, Shikha 40; Raghvi Bisht 4/14) by 3 wickets



India C 197/6 in 50 overs (Soumya Tiwari 58*, Falak Naz 45; Chandasi Krishnamurthy 2/29) beat India A 130/10 in 38.2 overs (Titas Sadhu 33; Pooja Raj 5/18, Sakshi S Thakur 2/10) by 67 runs