Yastika Bhatia's 80* helps India D lift T20 Challenger title
Renuka Singh took three wickets to help restrict India A to 144 for 5 and set up victory
ESPNcricinfo staff
26-Nov-2022
File photo - Yastika Bhatia scored 80 not out off 56 balls • Getty Images
India D 148 for 3 (Bhatia 80*, Akhter 47, Poonam 1-25) beat India A 144 for 5 (Deol 61, Parween 50, Renuka 3-24, Gayakwad 2-21) by seven wickets
Yastika Bhatia, Jasia Akhter and Renuka Singh starred for India D as they beat India A by seven wickets in Raipur to lift the Women's T20 Challenger Trophy.
Put into bat, India A didn't have a great start, with Renuka trapping Shivali Shinde lbw in the first over. Soon after, she dismissed Disha Kasat too, making it 25 for 2 in the fifth over. Wicketkeeper-opener Nuzhat Parween and Harleen Deol stabilised the innings, taking the side to 52 for 2 by the halfway stage of the innings.
The next five overs produced 46 runs as both batters opened up. Deol reached her fifty in 40 balls, with Parween following her in 42. The two added 105 for the third wicket, in 13.1 overs, before Renuka broke the stand with Parween's wicket. Deol fell in the last over of the innings to Rajeshwari Gayakwad, who also had Sajeevan Sajana stumped three balls later.
Chasing 145, Bhatia and Akhter set the platform with their 70-run opening partnership in 11 overs. Akhter was the aggressor, hitting three fours and as many sixes in her 38-ball 47.
Jemimah Rodrigues and D Hemalatha fell for single-digit scores but by then Bhatia had assumed control. At one point, she was on 21 off 27 balls. Off the next 14, she smashed 31 to bring up her half-century in 41 balls.
India D needed 38 runs in the last five overs, which Bhatia and Sushma Verma knocked off with an over to spare.
