India B falter at the doorstep of victory

The verdant setting of the cricket ground at the Jamia Millia University at Delhi proved to be ideal for the Indian women cricketers to stretch their limbs after a long stint away from match situations. And what a way to get back into match fit conditions! India A snatched victory off the last ball of the match by two runs, denying India B the 133 runs they needed for victory.

Although the 37 probables have been training together at a series of camps, it has been a while since they played any competitive cricket. And the first match of the CricInfo 2000 Tourney certainly was keenly contested. Air India teammates Purnima Rau and Anjum Chopra squared up, leading the India A and B respectively.

Calling correctly, India A skipper Purnima Rau had no hesitation in electing to bat. Things however were not as easy as expected out in the middle. Opening bowlers GS Lakshmi and Kalyani Umbrani bowled a tight line. On a wicket where the ball did not come on to the bat swiftly, the two kept the left and right combination of Aarti Vaidya and Reshma Gandhi quiet. Aarti looked in good nick, as she middled the ball well and sent one straight drive racing across the turf for four. Kalyani drew first blood for the B side, when Aarti flashed hard at a ball from her West Zone teammate. Lunging instantly, Anjum Chopra pulled off a splendid catch in the slips. Unfortunately there were no television cameras at the ground, for surely it was a catch she would have liked to look at again and again.

After the fall of the first wicket, Reshma Gandhi kept the score ticking over with a number of good hits that pierced the infield. She too fell to a fine catch, this time by stumper Gurdeep Kaur diving to her right and snapping the ball up inches from the grass.

With the openers having gone, left hander Jaya Sharma (26) and skipper Purnima Rau (22) held the innings together. Not for long though. A hesitant single caught Jaya Sharma well short of her crease. Purnima Rau then perished attempting to drive across the line to a ball that kept low from Rumeli Dhar.

Two more run outs later, including a direct hit from Kalyani Umbrani, India A were struggling to piece together a good score. All rounder Deepa Kulkarni struck the ball well, heaving several over the onside field on the way to a handy 24. When the allotted time ran out, just 44 overs were completed. As play had started late, no overs were docked from the side batting second. India A had mustered a modest 132/7 from 44 overs.

Chasing 133 was never going to be hard for a side that boasted batswomen of the calibre of Anjum Chopra, Kalyani Umbrani and Mithali Raj. Vanitha Viola and Mithali Raj started the proceedings for India B. Requiring to score at less than three an over, the pair started sedately. They seemed solid enough till Vanitha Viola slipped in mid pitch and could not recover in time to reach home safely. The fall of the first wicket brought Gurdeep Kaur to the crease. Off the first ball she faced, she was caught in the slips.

Anjum Chopra walked out to the middle to join Mithali Raj and the two picked up the scoring immediately. Anjum Chopra began the upswing in scoring, whisking left arm spinner Deepa Kulkarni through square leg for a boundary. She followed that up with a trademark drive through the offside that ran away to the boundary. In her company, Mithali Raj too got her act together, punching the ball solidly through the vee between mid off and mid on.

If anything, Anjum Chopra began to struggle a bit for runs. Although she never looked like she would lose her wicket, the flow of runs off her blade was stemmed. Sensing this, Mithali Raj moved into top gear and began to go for runs. After motoring on to 48, Mithali played all over a full delivery from Swarnalakshmi and saw her timber in disarray.

India cap and West Zone skipper Kalyani Umbrani joined Anjum Chopra out in the middle and played in a defensive vein. She seemed to be batting solidly, but against the grain of play was bowled by Purnima Rau.

Kavita Roy replaced Kalyani and, bustling through for quick singles, she pressurised the fielders. Forcing the ball through the off side with good results, she kept India B well in the race.

Having taken India B to the doorstep of victory, Anjum Chopra (43) played a wild heave and was bowled all ends up by Rupanjali Shastri. With one over left and four runs to make from it, Kavita Roy was joined by Sangeeta Kamat. Deepa Kulkarni came on to bowl her left arm spin. The first ball went without any addition to the score. Off the second ball, a quick single was scampered. This left India B requiring three runs off four balls. Sangeetha Kamat played the next ball down with soft hands to the off side and set off for a quick single. If the fielder had picked up cleanly and hit the stumps direct, there was never any chance that Kavita Roy would make her ground. Suneeta Kanojia did just that. With three balls to go and three runs to make, new bat Varsha Raphael hit the ball straight up in the air for Smitha Harikrishna to pouch the catch at mid off. No run resulted off the fifth ball. Needing three runs off the last ball, Rumeli Dhar was bowled and India B were 130 for eight in 44 overs at the end of the match.

India A had pulled off an unlikely victory by a narrow margin. At the end of the day, it was probably more a case of India B snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.