Air India toy with mediocre opposition

Air India hardly broke into a sweat in romping past South Zone by seven wickets for their third successive victory in the CricInfo Rani Jhansi tournament at the SRMC ground in Chennai today. South Zone put in a richly soporific display with the bat, scraping together 84/9 in 50 overs after winning the toss and batting. Opener Vanita Viola was the lone lass who managed to stay put at the wicket for any length of time but her 46 not out (129 balls) in 50 overs was just a shade better than Sunil Gavaskar's infamous 36 in 60. In the post noon session, GS Lakshmi again bowled her heart out, grabbing two early wickets, but a 54 run fourth wicket partnership between Mithali Raj and Anju Jain steered the Air India women home with 22 overs to spare.

Keeping in mind the formidable batting reputation of Air India, South dared not tempt fate by putting them in and the match as a spectacle was killed at that very moment. The openers just did not make any effort to score. At the very least they could just drop the ball at their feet and run but here they were patting the ball straight to the fielders, refusing to be hurried. New ball bowlers, Smitha Harikrishna and Kusumlatha gave away just 15 runs in the first twelve overs before off spinner Seema Pujare was brought on from the pavilion end.

She struck with her third ball to as Karuna Jain stepped out to one outside off stump and missed the line to be stumped by keeper Anju Jain. New batswoman Harsha was brilliantly caught by Mamtha Ranade at slip in Seema's third over as she drove lazily at one outside off stump. And Sejal then gifted a dolly catch to Smitha at mid off to give Seema three out of three and leave the score at 23/3 in the 19th over. Kusumlatha had bowled out her ten overs on the trot to finish with the fabulous figures of 10-6-6-0, which speaks as much for her opponent's ineptness as much for her own skill.

Left arm spinner Usha Bogade was introduced in the 22nd over while Purnima Rao's off breaks were seen in action from the other end. Vanita Viola and Sudha Rani then added 32 runs for the fourth wicket before Purnima got rid of Sudha Rani, caught behind by Anju Jain. Amsavalli hit a full toss into the arms of backward square leg and Kamakshi ran herself out going for an ambitious second run through the covers. There was a spell between the 40th and 45th overs when no run came off the bat for 29 balls and the last ten overs produced all of 17 runs. Seema finished with 3/13 in 10 overs and Usha, 2/17 but the most successful was Purnima Rao who mopped up the tail to bag a haul of 4/29. There was not a single boundary in the innings, not even a three, although on one occasion the batswomen ran two byes off a wide to get three runs from the delivery.

The batting order was turned over its head once more by Air India, with Anjum Chopra and Smitha Harikrishna opening the innings. Anjum struck the first boundary of the match in the fourth over, with a straight drive off Mamtha. But South captain GS Lakshmi had not thrown in the towel yet, and sent back Smitha Harikrishna and Manju Nadgoda in successive overs with the score stationary on 16. Mithali Raj joined Anjum and the scoreboard began to tick away once more but not with the usual fervour that Air India bring to their game.

With the score at 31 in the 15th over, Anjum hit a full toss from Nooshien to midwicket and was run out by an accurate throw from Shobana as she scrambled for a third run. Anju Jain, the regular opener for Air India, came in at No.5 and the urgency in her approach helped instil some much needed life into the game. Brisk running between the wickets produced twos and threes in profusion as the fifty was posted in the 21st over. Sejal was brought on in the 22nd over and her flighted donkey drops were taken for ten runs including four wides and the second and last four of the match, struck straight down the ground by Anju Jain. It was all over six overs later as two successive misfields off Nooshien spelled finis to the mismatch. Mithali was unbeaten on 25 (68 balls) and Anju on 26 (35 balls).