Railways, the most dominant force in women’s cricket in India, once again showcased their prowess winning the 2021 edition of the Senior Women’s One Day Trophy. They defeated Jharkhand Women, a first-time finalist in the tournament’s 14-year-old history by seven wickets.
Sneh Rana shone with the ball for the Mithali Raj led side at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot. Punam Raut and Sabbhineni Meghana were the heroes with the bat. Raj, the skipper of the side neither bowled nor batted in the entire game.
Chasing a modest target of 168 to win, Railways lost wicketkeeper batswoman Nuzhat Parween pretty early in the form of a runout. But after that Raut and Meghna added 107 runs for the third wicket to break the back of the Jharkhand defence. Raut did get out, but not before completing her consecutive half-century (59) in the tournament.
Meghna too was stumped off the bowling of Ravinder Devyani off 53, but it was too late for the women from the land of mines to stage a dynamic comeback. Sneh and Mona Meshram completed the proceedings to take Railway home by seven wickets in just 37 overs.
Earlier in the day, Jharkhand skipper Niharika mani won the toss and decided to bat first. Apart from Mani herself (39*), only Indrani Roy (49) and Durga Murmu (31) showed any sort of resistance against the dominating Railways bowling. The team eventually got all out on the very last ball of the innings for 167.
