West Zone glimmer, then fade away

After beginning both their bowling and batting in lacklustre fashion, Indian Railways came through strongly thanks to a thoroughly professional performance. Beating West Zone by 74 runs, Indian Railways notched up their second win of the series and handed West Zone their first loss.

West Zone have won both the matches they have played so far. Indian Railways have played one match (against Central Zone), winning it in convincing fashion and are looking to further their chances in the tournament. The clash between the two teams at the Railway Stadium would decide who had the upper hand in the tournament.

Indian Railways along with Air India are the established big teams. In the past they have dominated tournaments almost completely. A lot of people expected the same of the CricInfo Rani Jhansi Trophy 2000. West Zone apparently were not told about this. In what must be called a spirited effort, the West Zone team snatched the initiative from the first over of the innings.

As she has done so efficiently in the past, the West Zone skipper Kalyani took the new ball herself when she lost the toss and was asked to field. Beginning with a maiden, Kalyani set the tone for the rest of the bowlers. At the other end, Neelima Waghmare bowled with determination. Having bowled out her 10 overs on the trot yesterday, she proceeded to the same today. In just the 4th over, she beat Purnima Chowdury for pace, leaving the stumps in disarray. Despite being injured while fielding, she soldiered on, never losing out on pace. Attempting to field a ball on the rather uneven outfield, she was surprised by uneven bounce and took a knock on the side of her head.

Turning down offers of treatment till she finished her spell, Neelima ended with figures of 10-5-10-1. What more could a captain ask for? What made the spell specially valuable was the fact that it came against one of the better teams of the tournament. In starting with such a tight spell, the advantage was with West Zone.

Sonali Chandok who has been the pick of the spinners so far once again drove the point home, beginning her spell with a wicket maiden. Beating Reshma Gandhi through the air, she had her caught at mid off by Neelima. After the fall of two early wickets Indian Railways were forced to spend a period of time consolidating their innings.

West Zone too had its share of problems. After the frontline bowlers had done their bit, they seemed to be short of one bowler. Sonali Chandok was clearly not at her best and was taken off after an initial spell of 4-2-11-1. Batting all rounder Chandarani bowled her off spinners rather loosely and was taken apart by Hemalatha. The 32nd over of the innings, bowled by Chandarani read 4 4 4 . 4 1. That took all the pressure of the Indian Railways batswomen.

Hemalatha grew in confidence as the overs progressed and the runs began to come thick and fast. She swung the ball effortlessly through the on side, unafraid to take the aerial route. Even the few chances that were on offer for West Zone went abegging as Sulakshana Naik had a bad day behind the stumps. Failing to collect the ball cleanly on more than one occasion, the ball squirted through and stumping opportunities were missed.

When Hemalatha was finally caught in the deep by Vaishali playing a tired shot, she had already made an invaluable 69. Kalyani had the dismissal to her credit, but by then, the damage was done. 45 overs had were completed and Indian Railways were well on their way to a fighting total.

After Hemalatha's dismissal, Deepa Kulkarni took on the mantle of senior batswoman and continued the assault. Hitting crisply through the line, she helped herself to an unbeaten half century, crossing the landmark in the last over of the innings. Indian Railways ended their innings on 184/5.

Star of yesterday's game Amutha Shinde and experienced campaigner Arti Vaidya got West Zone off to a flyer. Tackling the Indian Railways opening bowlers with ease, the right and left combination carted the ball to all corners of the park. Driving and cutting powerfully through the off side the two took West Zone at a pace of almost four runs an over till the 10th over. Then Indian Railways veteran Diana Eduljee made her presence felt.

Coming in to the attack with the score on 38/0 after 10 overs, Diana completely sealed one end, giving away no runs. Bowling two maidens on the trot, she began to apply the brakes on the West Zone batting. In her third over, she let two balls slip down the leg side and was whipped away behind square for boundaries by Amrutha. Was the stranglehold broken? Far from it. When she was on 44, Amrutha tried to heave Rupanjali Shastri through the on side and missed the ball. Rapped on the pads, she was adjudged leg before. With the score on 61, the momentum shifted completely towards Indian Railways.

West Zone skipper Kalyani walked in amidst high expectation. Indeed, it would take an innings of character from her to see West Zone through. What happened in the next few minutes sealed West Zone's fate. Running late on what was a tight single to begin with, Kalyani was found well short of her ground by a direct hit from Renu Margaret. With the captain gone without scoring West Zone's hopes were all but dashed.

While Arti Vaidya waged a lone battle at one end, wickets tumbled at the other. Spinners operating in tandem made run scoring very difficult. Arti showed vast reserves of defiance, not getting bogged down by the tight bowling. Every once in a while she took the initiative, came down the wicket and lofted the ball over the infield.

When Arti was caught behind attempting to cut spinner Deepa Kulkarni it was curtains for West Zone. Her innings of 33 bolstered West Zone. While she was at the crease there was at least the hope of a late charge.

A silent West Zone dressing room watched the proceedings gloomily as their side slumped to 110 all out after being 61 for no loss.

Diana Eduljee proved to be the big difference between the two teams. Having played the game for years now, she knew every trick in the trade and did not hesitate to unveil a few. When Indian Railways were batting her voice could be heard loud and clear from the dressing room appealing for wides. When Arti Vaidya, in some ways the last hurdle for Indian Railways, was dismissed, Diana ran across and congratulated the umpire for upholding the appeal. Needless to say, the umpire did not appreciate the gesture. Call it playing the game hard or call it gamesmanship (gameswomanship in this case?). Either way, it won Indian Railways a game that had virtually slipped out of their grasp.