South African all-rounder Sune Luus produced a brilliant unbeaten 37 under pressure as Mithali Raj’s Velocity overcame a jittery start to defeat defending champions Supernovas by five wickets in the opening match of the Women’s T20 Challenge in Sharjah on Wednesday.

Chasing 127, Velocity were 38/3 inside nine overs and then moved along to 65/4 at the end of 13 overs when Luus walked in. And she played a blinder from there to take her side over the line with a calm-headed 37-run knock that came off 21 balls with four fours and a six.

Luus also shared a crucial 51-run stand with Sushma Verma (34) to repair the innings after the early setbacks.

The Velocity bowlers, led by left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht (3/22) had restricted Supernovas to 126/8 after electing to bowl. New Zealand off-spinner Leigh Kasperek (2/23) and medium pacer Jahanara Alam (2/27) also contributed in stifling the holders.

Jahanara dismissed key batters – Harmanpreet Kaur (31) and Chamara Athapaththu (44) – to derail Supernovas.

Sri Lankan star Athapaththu and Kaur started to seize control in the back end but their 47-run partnership was broken by Jahanara with Veda Krishnamurthy taking calm-headed skier in the long on to dismiss the former. She later dismissed Harmanpreet for 31 after the Indian skipper scooped one straight to short fine leg.

It triggered a collapse as the defending champions lost four wickets for 15 runs. Athapaththu slammed two sixes and two boundaries in a 39-ball 44, while Harmanpreet hit two sixes and one boundary.

Velocity made some early inroads with their spinner duo of Leigh Kasperek and Ekta Bisht dismissing Priya Punia (11) and Jemimah Rodrigues (7) inside eight overs.

Later, South African medium pacer Ayabonga Khaka (2/27) gave Supernovas the perfect start dismissing both the openers, Dani Wyatt (0) and supremely-talented Shafali Verma (17).

Shafali had lit up the modest chase smashing a hat-trick of boundaries against Khaka. But Khaka bounced back to dismiss the talented Indian teenager after she flicked a full toss straight to deep midwicket.

Skipper Mithali Raj, who never got again in her return to action after November last year, then fell victim to Siriwardene after a sluggish seven from 19 balls. It was left for Veda Krishnamurthy (29) and Sushma to keep them in hunt. The seasoned Sushma turned it around for Velocity in the 16th over hammering Poonam Yadav for two sixes with some clean-hitting display to bring the run rate down.

She couldn’t take them over the line falling to Poonam Yadav in the penultimate over. Needing nine runs from the last over, Luus sealed the chase in the penultimate ball with a streaky boundary.

Velocity will take on Smriti Mandhana’s Trailblazers on Thursday.

(with PTI inputs)