Amidst the buzz around Ranji trophy and
India-SA series, the senior women’s one day cricket tournament quietly bit the
dust last week. The first leg of the tournament (15th Nov -23rd
Nov) was played in Gujarat, Jharkhand, Goa and Kerala and the super league (1st
Dec - 5th Dec) was played in Hyderabad and Una. A total of 26 teams
participated in the tournament, which were divided into Elite Groups (Elite
Group A and Elite Group B) and Plate Groups (Plate Group A, Plate Group B and
Plate Group C). The first part of the tournament was played in Round-robin
format, which means that every team played against every other team in its
Group. Top two teams from each of the five groups progressed to the super
league. There were four teams from the Elite Groups who fought for the National
Championship title and six teams from the Plate Groups locked horns eyeing two berths
in the Elite Group next year.
The defending champions Railways remained
invincible throughout the tournament and went on to win the National
Championship when they comprehensively defeated a powerful Maharashtra team by 57
runs. In the Plate Group, it was Baroda facing off against Madhya Pradesh in
the ultimate final. Madhya Pradesh had an easy victory over Baroda, chasing a
small target of 113 keeping five wickets in hand.
To speak about a few highlights from the
tournament, India’s no. 1 batswoman and Railways skipper Mithali Raj was the
highest run-scorer (264 runs in 6 innings), while Railways left arm spinner
Ekta Bisht and Baroda’s medium pace bowler Nancy Patel were the top
wicket-takers picking up 15 wickets apiece. Mumbai’s 13-year old child prodigy
Fatima Jaffer (7 wickets), niece of cricket veteran Wasim Jaffer, was a new
find for senior women’s domestic cricket.
After the successful completion of the one
day tournament, the domestic women’s cricket will welcome the New Year with the
T20 tournament that commences from the first week of January 2016. Let the
party begin.
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