Odisha continue their unbeaten run to march into semis of Senior T20

India international Madhuri Meheta played a match-winning knock of 66 before the bowlers helped Odisha continue their unbeaten run in the Senior T20 Trophy. They beat Haryana by 13 runs at the Lalbhai Contractor Stadium in Surat on Saturday (April 30) in their quarterfinal. They will now face Railways in the semi-final on May 2.



Put into bat by Shafali Verma, Odisha started with a flurry of boundaries with Kajal Jena hitting four of them. Together with Meheta, she added 33 runs for the opening wicket before Priyanka Sharma accounted for her. They lost one more wicket soon with Sarita Meher getting run out for a duck.



From 36 for 2, Meheta and Sushree Dibyadarshini took the score to 74 and once the latter was departed, the opener found an able partner in wicket-keeper Pragyan Mohanty. They shared a 65-run partnership for the fourth wicket.



Eventhough, Meheta eventually fell for a well-made 66 off 55 balls and Mohanty contributed with a 19-ball 30, Odisha finished strongly on 151 for six from their stipulated 20 overs.



Pacer Mansi Joshi was the pick of the bowlers for Haryana with figures of two for 18 from her four overs.



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Chasing 152 for a place in the semi-final, Haryana needed their skipper to come good, but Sujata Mallik accounted for her as Verma fell for just two. Other opener Reema Sisodia tried to play an aggressive hand with 27 off 18 balls.



However, Haryana kept losing wickets at regular intervals as Odisha bossed the game for most of the innings. Despite attempts from Sonia Mendhiya and Suman Gulia, Haryana eventually fell short by 13 runs.



For Haryana, Gulia was the top-scorer with a 22-ball 31, while Mendhiya made 17 off just 11 balls. For Odisha, Mallik and Rasanara Parwin took two wickets each.



Brief Scores: Odisha 151/6 in 20 overs (Madhuri Meheta 66, Pragyan Mohanty 31; Mansi Joshi 2/18) beat Haryana 138/8 in 20 overs (Suman Gulia 31, Reema Sisodia 27; Sujata Mallik 2/20, Rasanara Parwin 2/30) by 13 runs