da brwin： A fitting finale today at the Jamia Millia Ground in Delhi saw India Awin the CricInfo 2000 Tourney in a close finish
da aviator aposta： Anand Vasu28-Sep-2000A fitting finale today at the Jamia Millia Ground in Delhi saw India Awin the CricInfo 2000 Tourney in a close finish. A match that wentright down to the wire belonged completely to the batswomen. It’s notoften that a match is decided on the last possible ball. The pressureon both sides is immense in such situations and the team that does notpanic usually comes out on top. That team, on the day, was India A.After winning the toss, the India A skipper Purnima Rau made a bolddecision and decided to chase. Having put India C in to bat on awicket that kept pretty low, India A were in a bit of bother asopeners Anju Jain and Amritha Shinde started well. The pair put on 34runs before the dangerous looking Anju Jain was dismissed. Many amurmur went through the pavilion as a key batswoman had fallen early.Amritha Shinde however, kept plugging away, in the company of HemlathaKala. After batting in commanding fashion in the league phase,Hemlatha could not sustain her form and was dismissed before she couldtrouble the scorers. With just 59 on the board, Amritha was trappedleg before by Purnima Rau. Although she managed to spend a lot of timeat the wicket, Amritha Shinde never looked at her best. She played andmissed on more than one occasion and the occasional edge eluded thefielders.Gulshan Sharma and Arundhati Kirkire then put together a partnershipthat gave the India C side a total to defend. The two matched eachother stroke for stroke and peppered caution with spurts ofaggression. When time ran out and just 45 overs were finished, India Ahad 142 runs on the board and both batswomen were unbeaten on 45.This looked like a solid total, but two veterans changed thatimpression. With 32 on the board and two wickets gone, Arati Vaidyaand Purnima Rau came together. The two experienced campaigners tookthe bowling apart. Although there were patches when the bowlers landedthe ball in the right spot and the fielders were on their toes, thetwo never lost their cool. Giving the youngsters a lesson in how topace an innings, Purnima Rau and Arati Vaidya got the scoreboardticking over well. Arati looked good in earlier games but did notactually get going. But there were no such problems today. When itmattered the most, she came up with a solid 44. After the two hadadded 80, Arati Vaidya hit a ball straight to the fielder at cover.Purnima too departed soon after and at 115/4, India C were well andtruly back in the game.Two fresh cricketers were at the crease and the difference wasimmediately obvious. Two quick run outs and India A were facing thepossibility of a loss.With just one over to be bowled, India A needed five runs for victory.Suneeta Kanojia who struck a boundary past mid off in the earlierovers was in the company of Suvarnalakshmi. The two managed to getfour of the runs off the first four balls. After Suneeta Kanojiatapped the ball to the offside, Suvarnalakshmi set off like a hare.The ball however was safely in the hands of Neetu David. A good throwfollowed and Suvarnalakshmi had to run all the way to back to thepavilion. With one ball to go and one run to win, Vaishali Landgefound herself at the non striker’s end. Suneeta Kanojia struck theball firmly to mid off and the two set off for a single. The pressurewas telling as Bindeshwari Goel fumbled with the ball and thebatswomen managed to scamper to safety. At the end of exactly 45overs, India A had won by two wickets.
