Twitter Reactions: Salma Khatun, Smriti Mandhana give Trailblazers maiden Women’s T20 Challenge title

The final of the Women’s T20 Challenge wasn’t a high-scoring affair by any means. But the finalists- Trailblazers and Supernovas- showcased some excellent piece of cricket. After a lot of excitement, it was the Smriti Mandhana-led Trailblazers, who came out trumps by 16 runs to win the game. It was also their maiden title in the championship after they failed to qualify for the playoffs last year.

Mandhana and Radha shine

The Trailblazers’ batting was all about Smriti Mandhana. Barring her, the rest of the batters couldn’t find any sort of momentum whatsoever. Deandra Dottin was attacking in the first two matches, but she crawled her way to a 32-ball 20 with a four before she perished to Poonam Yadav. At the other end, the left-handed Mandhana kept playing strokes and never allowed a dip in the scoring rate.

Mandhana notched her half-century off 38 balls. She batted until the 15th over and scored 68 runs off 49 balls with five fours and three sixes. But once Shashikala Siriwardene got rid of her, the innings collapsed. Radha Yadav was exceptional with the ball in hand. The left-hander spinner picked up a five-wicket haul, conceding a mere 16 runs. The Trailblazers made their way to 118 in 20 overs.

Khatun stars for the Trailblazers

Chamari Athapaththu started with a four off Sophie Ecclestone, who later went on to dismiss her. Tania Bhatia scored a 20-ball 14 before Deepti Sharma accounted for her wicket. Jemimah Rodrigues’ poor run in the tournament continued as he could manage only 13 off 16. She became Deepti’s second victim. Siriwardene and Harmanpreet Kaur then put on 37 for the fourth wicket.

Bangladesh’s Salma Khatun nipped Siriwardene out to put more pressure on the Supernovas’ batting unit. Harmanpreet played with an injury and she found it tough to run between the wickets. Despite that, she managed 30 runs off 36 balls to keep her team in the end. But after Khatun dismissed her, the writing was on the walls for the Supernovas. In the end, they could only muster 102 in 20 overs.

Here’s how the netizens reacted on the Trailblazers’ victory:

https://twitter.com/prakash_info/status/1325852633886650369?s=20