Supernovas and Trailblazers locked horns in the inaugural game of the Women’s T20 Challenge 2022 at the MCA stadium in Pune. The Blue Brigade won the toss and elected to bat first. They had a great start as openers, Priya Punia and Deandra Dotting stitched a partnership of 50 runs in just five overs. Dottin (32 off 17) was run out by a direct throw from Sharmin Akhtar on the last ball of the fifth over.
Two overs later, Punia (22) missed the ball from Hayley Matthews and saw the stumps behind her shattered. Harleen Deol, who scored a fluent 35 off 19 balls was trapped LBW by Salma Khatun. This wicket decreased scoring as the team went from 100 runs in 11.2 overs to 121 in 14.3 overs. At this stage, Sune Luus (10 off 11) was caught at cover by Renuka Singh off Rajeshwari Gaikwad. This wicket led to a collapse.
They went from 121/3 to 163 all-out witthe h only Harmanpreet Kaur (37) and Pooja Vastrakar (14) reaching the double-digit mark at this stage. The rest of the batting line-up scored less than 10 runs each. For the Pink Brigade, Matthews took three wickets, Khatun took two, while Gaikwad and Poonam Yadav took one each. In reply, the Smriti Mandhana-led side had a decent start as the skipper herself and Matthews stitched a partnership of 39 runs in five overs.
Matthews (18) was caught behind by Taniya Bhatia off Vastrakar. The skipper scored 34 off 23 before she became the second victim of Vastrakar in the eighth over. In the same over, Sophia Dunkely (1) was caught at mid-off by Punia. This wicket triggered a collapse and put the opposition on the driver seat. They went from 65/2 to 77/7 with Vastrakar finishing with the figures of 4-0-12-4.
Jemimah Rodrigues (24) was the only hope for the team but she was caught at deep cover by Deol off Meghna Singh in the 14th over. The team was restricted to 114/9, losing the game by a huge margin of 49 runs.
This is how Twitter reacted
Terrific Innings from Harleen Deol. She played fearless. She scored brilliant 35 runs from 19 balls including 5 fours in the Women's T20 Challenge. pic.twitter.com/yUEFhmZ7wy
— CricketMAN2 (@ImTanujSingh) May 23, 2022
Stand out umpiring so far in Women's T20 challenge, both the decisions came right. pic.twitter.com/NHeBpBOvkG
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) May 23, 2022
The last year of the women's T20 Challenge is underway. I look forward to the #WIPL. It will be successful from year 1.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) May 23, 2022
https://twitter.com/CricketSatire/status/1528767053577871361?s=20&t=OZGdJd0UqTH2E9Ytoy_3og
Good to see craze for Women's T20 Challenge among my Mutuals.
Looks like I follow right peoples ???— Cricket ? Lover // Bumrah Is GOAT (@CricCrazyV) May 23, 2022
Official spectator count at innings break of the first ever ticketed match (Harmanpreet's Supernovas vs Mandhana's Trailblazers) in Women's T20 Challenge history: 1812#WT20Challenge | #WT20C
— Annesha Ghosh (@ghosh_annesha) May 23, 2022
Women's T20 challenge needs to expand into a proper 8 team Women's IPL. Sucks that people don't give it the attention it deserves
— Advit (@rebelmooned) May 23, 2022
i do love the women's t20 challenge, some good cricket and we've seen a lot of that so far in the first few overs of this year's tournament. real shame theres only 4 games, including the final, can't actually call that a tournament.
— ellie indie (@fiveforeight) May 23, 2022
This is now the highest total in Women's T20 Challenge, overtaking 146/6 by Supernovas against Trailblazers in 2020 (same team & opposition now).#WT20Challenge
— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) May 23, 2022
Absolute gully cricket commentary for the Women's T20 Challenge.?
An all-female commentary panel should've been the way to go!
— Jeet Vachharajani (Women's Cricket) (@Jeetv27WC) May 23, 2022
No commercial ads in the match.. one can watch whole game without interruptions, still only very few people watching #My11CircleWT20C Women's T20 Challenge. The crowd is also not in good numbers!
Will it change anytime soon?@IPL @BCCI @BCCIWomen#TBLvsSNO
Want Women's IPL soon— A Karthic (@Karthic___) May 23, 2022
