Dehradun. Mussoorie Thunders performed brilliantly in all departments of the game and defeated Pithoragarh Hurricanes by eight wickets to secure their place in the final of the Women’s Uttarakhand Premier League. By winning this match, Mussoorie Thunders made it to the final along with Nainital SG Pipers. Friday’s match between Mussoorie Thunders and Pithoragarh Hurricanes was like a knockout, in which the winning team would enter the final. The foundation of Mussoorie’s spectacular victory was laid by their bowlers, who showed disciplined and collective performance. After this, strong batting led by Nandini Kashyap made this victory even more spectacular. Chasing 120 runs, Mussoorie Thunders openers Shagun Chaudhary and Anjali Goswami gave their team a solid start and took full advantage of the powerplay overs.
By the end of the sixth over, she had taken the team’s score to 40 runs without losing any wicket. However, in the very next over, Pithoragarh Hurricanes’ Neelam Bhardwaj took the important wicket of Shagun Chaudhary, who had scored 27 runs in 26 balls. After this, Nandini Kashyap came to the crease and started scoring runs rapidly. She made her intentions clear by hitting three consecutive fours off Neelam Bisht’s balls in one over.
Nandini Kashyap and Anjali Goswami shared a 57run partnership, after which Anjali Goswami was dismissed in the 14th over after scoring 32 runs. However, despite this wicket, the pace of the Mussoorie Thunders’ innings was not affected, and the target remained within their control. Nandini Kashyap sealed the victory in style, completing her halfcentury with a four. She scored an unbeaten 50 off 28 balls, which included 7 fours and 2 sixes.
Earlier, batting first, Pithoragarh Hurricanes suffered a setback early in their innings when opener Ananya Mehra was dismissed for a duck by Garima Bisht. Muskan Kumari then batted sensibly while Neelam Bhardwaj took the responsibility of scoring quick runs. Their 66run partnership gave them hope of reaching a competitive score, but Mussoorie Thunders bowlers hit back by taking wickets at regular intervals.
Muskan Kumari was trapped LBW by Rudra Sharma in the 11th over, she had scored 32 runs from 33 balls. Pithoragarh Hurricanes lost five wickets in the last five overs, which slowed down their run rate. Neelam Bhardwaj fell short of her halfcentury by just two runs, she scored 48 runs from 44 balls, which included 6 fours. Mussoorie Thunders captain Mansi Joshi and Prema Rawat took two wickets each and restricted Pithoragarh Hurricanes to 1197.
Image Credit: KhasKhabar.