Women's T20 Challenge: Salma Khatun's four overs was match-winning spell, says Mandhana
Nov 10, 2020
Sharjah [UAE], November 10 : After winning the Women's T20 Challenge finals by 16 runs against the Supernovas, Trailblazers skipper Smriti Mandhana said that Salma Khatun's four overs was the match-winning spell for her team.
Supernovas failed to chase down a target of 119 runs as the side was restricted to 102/7 in the allotted twenty overs, handing a win to Trailblazers by 16 runs. For Supernovas, Harmanpreet Kaur top-scored with a knock of 30 runs while for Trailblazers, Salma Khatun took three wickets while Deepti Sharma scalped two wickets.
This is the first time that Trailblazers won the Women's T20 Challenge. The other two titles were won by Supernovas in 2018 and 2019.
"It was an amazing bowling effort especially fielding effort, there were two-three brilliant fielding performances. I knew the wicket was tough to bat so I knew 120 would be a fighting total, back of the mind, I knew we will have a good chance if we post a score 115-120," said Mandhana during the virtual post-match press conference.
"Salma Khatun was brilliant. Those kinds of spells win you the match and those four overs, she bowled the last four overs for us, she got all her experience, I was just telling her to use the experience she has. Her spell was a winning spell," she added.
Earlier, Trailblazers had posted a total of 118/8 in the allotted twenty overs, owing to a knock of 68 runs by Smriti Mandhana.
For Supernovas, Radha Yadav had taken five wickets and as a result, she became the first player to take a five-wicket haul in Women's T20 Challenge.
"I think it was an amazing performance, the team was brilliant. I was timing the ball really well in the last match as well but I was finding the fielders. So in the finals, it was a conscious effort to put the ball in the gaps, that was the only thing I was thinking about. I knew the wicket was tough so I was just trying to take the score to 130-140 but somewhere we lost track," said Mandhana.
"I did not face Radha much, I just faced her in the powerplay, she has been in good form. When a bowler is in form, you try to take a single and get off the strike. We just told everyone to respect the bowler who is in form on the day. Even last year we had a great time playing Women's T20 Challenge, this year also we were looking to play the tournament, the last six months have been tough for the world, it was worth it to come here and play, thanks to BCCI for organising this tournament," she added.
