Air India safelands to title win

By Our Sports Reporter

CHENNAI, APRIL 8. Triumphing at the death often marks the beginning of a new life. Air India escaped by the skin of its teeth against West Zone, and that according to skipper Purnima Rau spurred the team to a match-winning display in the decisive league game of the CricInfo Rani of Jhansi women's cricket tournament at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium here on Saturday.

For Railways it was a journey to nowhere. Opener Rajani Sharma perished off the first ball of the innings and there just were no comebacks as the fancied side slumped to a 48- run defeat chasing 179.

It was the first title win for Air India in the tournament, and there was plenty of celebration soon after Anjum Malhotra swooped on the ball at point to end the contest by running out Neetu David.

After the game, Railway captain Diana Edulji blamed the failure to get a good start as the principal reason for the debacle. The middle-order which had bailed the team out time and again failed for once. And during the climactic stages panic set in resulting in four run outs.

On a wicket where the ball never really came on to the bat, runs were not easy to come by and the Air India bowlers stuck to a good line. Seamer Smitha Harikrishna struck early on with the wickets of Rajani Sharma and Balbir Kaur, both of whom failed to keep their drives down to be caught at mid off by Seema Pujare. At nine for two, Railways had a mountain to climb really.

Then medium-pacer Kusumlatha who achieved the important breakthrough trapping the in-form Ranji Venugopal, who played across the line, leg before. Soon it became 38 for four with Deepali scoring a direct hit from extra cover to run out Deepa Kulkarni and Air India was clearly sniffing a win.

But for Railways, things turned worse when H. Kala, among the runs in the tournament, was caught by Deepali at cover off Purnima, bowling off-spin. Off-spinner Seema Pujare, who is never afraid to throw the ball up, made it 67 for six, luring Reshma Gandhi into driving one right into Manju's hands at short cover.

There was a glimmer of hope in the Railway camp when Renu Margaret and Rupanjali added 46 runs for the seventh wicket in 76 balls. But just when the two seemed to be taking control, confusion over a quick single resulted in Rupanjali being run out, with Anjum sending in an accurate throw after doing well to stop the ball. A crucial strike.

The innings folded up soon with only Renu Margaret offering some resistance, remaining unbeaten with 43 (81 balls, 1 four). Though Smitha with three was the most successful in terms of wickets, Kusumlatha, who bowled her seamers with nagging accuracy and left-arm spinner Usha too performed their roles in an admirable manner.

Earlier Air India, electing to bat, was undone by a fine piece of left-arm spin bowling by Neetu David, who in fact, bowled the spell of the tournament in terms of sheer quality.

She bowled to a fine middle and off line, varied her flight, got the ball to turn and jump and ended with figures of 10-5-16-2. And she was unlucky not to end up with more wickets.

Air India must thank its sixth wicket pair of Mitali Raj and M. Sunaina, who added 65 vital runs under pressure. Mitali (45 not out, 71 balls, 5 fours) depended on pushes into the gaps, while the tall Sunaina used the long handle to good effect.

Indeed, Air India desperately needed runs down the order after Railways had succeeded in making deep inroads early on. Purnima did not contribute much, trapped leg-before by medium pacer Sunitha and the left-handed Anjum Chopra, who looked set for a big innings, chose the wrong ball to cut and was bowled by off- spinner Rupanjali. Anju Jain, who batted compactly for her 40 (86 balls, 2 fours) received a brute of a delivery from Neetu, that brushed her gloves and flew to Rupanjali at the slip, who made no mistake.

H. Smitha was run out by Deepa Kulkarni, who actually had only one stump to aim at from square leg, N. Manju edged a sharply spinning delivery to wicket-keeper Reshma Gandhi and the Air India seemed in a lot of trouble at 95 for five. But Mitali Raj and Sunanina took the game away from the Railways with their partnership.

In other matches between teams that were not in the race for the title, West and South scored exciting one-run victories over Central and North respectively.

At the SRMC grounds, G. Bindeshwari bowled a destructive spell of five for 16, to restrict West to 116, with only the consistent opener Amrita Shinde making 40. But Central lost the battle amid mounting tension, with seamers K. Sangeetha and Kalyani Umbrani bowling well. West finished third with four wins.

And at CPT grounds, South Zone made 164 for nine in the allotted overs with B. Sudha Rani top-scoring with 48. North seemed in the hunt with Gurdeep Kaur and P. Rajani batting well, but a sudden slump triggered by off-spinner K. Mamatha, saw the side falling just one run short. In the end, Rajini was left stranded on 56.

H. Kala of the Railways was named the player of the tournament, while Kalyani Umbrani (West Zone) was adjudged the Best Batswomen. N. David (Railways) won the Best Bowler award.

Ms. M. Fathima Beevi, Governor, Tamil Nadu, gave away the prizes. Sudha Shah, former India captain, and Sumathi Iyer, former India player who umpired in this tournament, were presented mementos on the occasion.

The scores. Air India 178 for six in 50 overs (Anju Jain 45 not out, M. Sunaina 29) beat Railways 130 in 45.2 overs (Renu Margaret 43 not out, H. Smitha three for 19).

West Zone 116 in 47 overs (Amrita Shinde 40, G. Bindeshwari five for 16) beat Central Zone 115 in 48 overs (Sangeetha three for 15).

South Zone 164 for nine in 50 overs (H. Harsha 31, B. Sudha Rani 48) beat North 163 for six in 50 overs (M. Rakhi 27, Gurdeep Kaur 44, P. Rajini 56 not out, K. Mamatha three for 210.

Final table: Played-Won-Lost-Points: Air India: 6-6-0-12; Railways: 6-5-1-10; West Zone: 6-4-2-8; Central: 6-2-4-4; North: 6-2-4-4; South: 6-1-5-2; East: 6-1-5-2.

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