All four Indian cricketers involved in the ongoing women’s cricket Super League in England had a day to remember on Sunday, with three of them scoring half centuries.
Smriti Mandhana was the star of the show once again for Western Storm in a thrilling win against Lancashire Thunder in a match that saw three Indians action. Harmanpreet Kaur, India’s T20 captain, scored a 37-ball 50 for her side first up before her deputy scored a brilliant 43-ball 72 in the run-chase.
Mandhana hit nine fours and two sixes in her match-winning innings and sits at the top of the run-scoring table in the league after six matches. The left-hander has 235 runs in the league so far after six matches and Kaur is second in the list with 210 runs. Both have scored two half centuries.
Deepti Sharma, playing in her first KSL game, provided the finishing touches for Storm after Mandhana’s second consecutive half century.
The spin-bowling all-rounder made a 14-ball 23 batting at No 6 and hit the winning runs in the last over of the match to seal the win in a run-chase of 160, with one ball to spare. Sharma smashed four boundaries in her cameo. Storm kept up their unbeaten start to the season and Mandhana was the star of the match. Kaur and Sharma registered identical bowling figures of 0/25 in the four overs for their respective sides.
In another match on the day, Jemimah Rodrigues scored her first Super League half century for Yorkshire Diamonds, albeit in a losing cause against Loughborough Lightning. Rodrigues smashed a 40-ball 58 and was comfortably the top-scorer for her side where no one else crossed 20. Diamonds finished at 129 all out with Rodrigues, who came in at No 4, being dismissed in the 19th over. In response, Lightning reached the target in the last over with South Africa’s Mignon du Preez starring with an unbeaten 38.