PANAJI
Goa Women upset a fancied Karnataka to move into the finals of the Senior Women's ODI League Plate Group finals. Goa booked a finals date with Bengal after they registered a hard-fought three-wicket win in the semi-finals, banking on a painstaking unbeaten 47-run knock by vice-captain Sunanda Yetrekar and Santoshi Rane's four-fer heroics earlier on at JU Second Campus, Salt Lake, Kolkata on Sunday.
Goa won the toss and took the field. Their decision paid rich dividends as the top-heavy Karnataka batting order lost half their side at the score of 44 by the 20th over. The reinvigorated pace bowling opening pair of Shikha Pandey and Santoshi Rane continued from where they left off against Kerala, to pick up five wickets among themselves. Rane, in fact, outshone India international Pandey by scalping four of the sticks which included Karnataka's main run-getters in the campaign, India discard V Karuna Jain (5), G Divya (10) and C Prathusha (10) cheaply.
Reeling at 44/5, the determined Karnataka pair of Sanjana Batni and Akanksha Kohli threatened to get away with Batni playing the role of an aggressor with Kohli adopting a rearguard approach. It required Goa's fourth-change bowler Rupali Chavan, who surprisingly came on after Sanjula Naik, to bowl her left-arm spin to snap the significant sixth wicket stand at the team score of 86, with the dangerous Batni departing for 24 (33b, 5x4). A run later, medium-pacer, Nikita Malik dismissed Kohli who made a patient 12 (28b, 2x4).
With Karnataka tottering again at 87/7, Chavan ensured her guileful bowling swallowed the lower order within the next seven overs as Karnataka were bowled out for 102 in 36.4 overs. In the Goa Women attack, pacer Santoshi Rane rocked the Karnataka top-order with impressive returns of 4/16 from her 10 overs including five maidens. Left-arm spinner, Rupali Chavan played her part with 4/17 from 7.4 overs. Shikha Pandey and Nikita Malik also chipped in with a wicket apiece.
In reply, Goa Women were dealt with twin blows with both openers, Vinavi Gurav and Nikita Malik, back in the pavilion at the end of five overs with the scorecard reading 9/2. Sugandha Ghadi wasted another opportunity at one-down being run-out once again on 6.
At 16/3, it required the experienced hands of Sunanda Yetrekar and Shikha Pandey to forge a meaningful stand in a recovery process. But captain Pandey did not trouble the scorers and Sanjula Naik could not replicate her previous match heroics and was out soon after.
Precariously placed at 32/5 by the 13th over, Yetrekar began to drop anchor and endeavoured to find support from the other end. The next two stands of 12 and 11 with Sanjula Naik and Vanita Bhandari respectively slowly chipped away at the target.
But with Santoshi Rane, who batted with intent for a contribution of 11 (13b, 2x4), and with hers as the seventh wicket to fall at 57, it appeared a mountain to climb from thereon. Undeterred by the challenge in front of her, Bharati Gaonkar, also an India baseball player, batting at No 9 rose to the occasion. Gaonkar played a little unbeaten gem of 19 (27b, 2x4) to bring to fruition the laboured effort of seasoned campaigner, Yetrekar's unconquered 47 (101b, 7x4) for a match-winning, edge-of-the-seat eight-wicket stand of 46 runs. Goa women got over the line at 103/7 in 35 overs.
For Karnataka, Monica C Patel picked two wickets, while Akanksha Kohli, Rameshwari, Chandu V and C Prathyusha claimed a
wicket each.
Goa Women now take on Bengal in the finals at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on December 26. Bengal entered the Plate Championship title clash by defeating Vidarbha by 37 runs in the other
semi-final.
