Velocity on Wednesday beat the Supernovas by five wickets in a thriller of an opening match in the Women’s T20 Challenge at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Velocity chased down a target of 127 with just one ball to spare, with South Africa’s Sune Luus remaining unbeaten on 37 and wicket-keeper Sushma Verma scoring 34.
The pair put up 51 runs for the fifth wicket after it looked like Supernovas could be on course to defending the low target.
Shakera Salman ended her spell with no wickets but played an integral role in taking Supernovas close to victory as she conceded just 19 runs in her four overs. Ayabonga Khaka dismissed openers Shafali Verma and Danii Wyatt while Velocity captain Mithali Raj fell to Shashikala Siriwardene after laboring to seven runs off 19 balls.
Earlier, Velocity restricted Supernovas to 126/8 wickets in 20 overs. Veteran spinner Ekta Bisht took wickets off the last two balls of the innings to take her tally to three wickets.
Bangladesh fast bowler Jahanara Alam and New Zealand Leigh Kasparek took two wickets each. For Supernovas, opener Chamari Atapattu and captain Harmanpreet Kaur were the highest scores.
Brief scores: Supernovas 126/8 wkts in 20 overs (Chamari Atapattu 44, Harmanpreet Kaur 31; Ekta Bisht 3/22) lost to Velocity 129/5 wkts in 19.5 overs (Sune Luus 37 not out, Sushma Verma 34; Ayabonga Khaka 2/27) by 5 wkts
