Pune, May 28: West Indian all-rounder Deandra Dottin starred with both bat and ball as she powered Supernovas to an unprecedented third Women's T20 Challenge title triumph with a four-run win over Velocity in a thrilling final here on Saturday.
Dottin top-scored with a 44-ball 62 at the top of the order to help Supernovas to 165 for seven after being put in to bat. With the ball, she took two wickets for 28 runs in her four overs to play a major role in restricting Velocity to 161 for eight.
South African batter Laura Wolvaardt almost single-handedly took Velocity within striking distance of a sensational win with a blazing 65 not out off 40 balls, which included five fours and three sixes.
Wolvaardt, who became the only batter in the tournament to score two half centuries, launched a ferocious onslaught in the death overs with a flurry of boundaries to raise hopes of a stunning victory for Velocity.
Number 10 batter Simran Bahadur (20 not out off 10 balls) also chipped with three successive fours in the penultimate over. Velocity needed 17 runs from the final over but left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone (2/28) conceded just 12 runs to win the match despite Wolvaardt hitting a six off the first ball.
If Englishwoman Ecclestone made life difficult for Velocity batters in the first half of the run chase, Australian leg-spinner Alana King (3/32) did the same in the back end. King was on a hat-trick after dismissing Sneh Rana and Radha Yadav off consecutive balls in the 16th over.
Supernovas had won the first two editions of the tournament in 2018 and 2019 before losing to Trailblazers in the final in 2020. The tournament was not held last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Velocity had finished runners-up in 2019.
Velocity made a blazing start to their run chase with openers Shafali Verma (15) and Yastika Bhatia (3) scoring 28 runs in the first two overs but that proved to be the only time the Deepti Sharma-led side was ahead in the match.
They suffered a batting collapse with half of them back in the hut for 64 runs in the 11th over. They were reduced to 38 for three, and things got only worse from there.
Earlier, Dottin made full use of an early reprieve to score a blistering half-century and propel Supernovas.
The 30-year-old Dottin was dropped on 13 by Sneh Rana off Deepti Sharma in the fourth over, and she made Velocity pay for that costly mistake by making 62 off 44 balls, which was studded with one four and four sixes.
The experienced campaigner stitched 73 runs for the opening wicket with Priya Punia (28) and added 58 for the second wicket with in-form captain Harmanpreet Kaur (43 off 29 balls).
For Velocity, captain Deepti Sharma, Kate Cross and Simran Bahadur took two wickets apiece, while Ayabonga Khaka got one. The Supernovas could only score 34 runs in the last five overs while losing five wickets.
Dottin and Punia gave the Supernovas a flying start, scoring at a brisk pace and reaching 46 for no loss in the powerplay.
Punia hit a six off Cross in the third over but her partner Dottin did even better, smashing consecutive maximums in the sixth over bowled by Rana. Punia was going strong when she got out in the 10th over bowled by Simran Bahadur, after smashing a six.
Captain Kaur, the tournament's highest scorer, came out and straightaway began collecting the runs, hitting a six off Rana in the 12th over and following it up with two maximums in the 14th over bowled by Yadav. In the next over, Velocity captain Deepti struck as she bowled Dottin.
The Supernovas suffered a batting collapse in the death overs as they lost four wickets for the addition of just 11 runs.
Pooja Vastrakar (5) was cleaned up by Ayabonga Khaka in the 17th over before Cross claimed two wickets -- that of Kaur and Sophie Ecclestone (2) -- in the space of three balls in the next over.
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Unruly scenes witnessed in Punjab Assembly
Chandigarh (PTI): The Punjab Assembly on Friday witnessed high drama on Friday after Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira made an allegedly objectionable remark against Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann during an intense argument over the alleged use of mobile phone in the house by the legislator.
During the one-day special session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha here, Mann accused Khaira of using a mobile phone when Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan was reading out an official resolution on the revision of wages.
After rising from his seat, the chief minister pointed to the speaker, claiming that Khaira is busy on his mobile phone and urged him to ask the Congress MLA what Sandhwan had said about the resolution.
The speaker then asked Khaira to maintain order in the house and listen to the resolution carefully.
Mann then asked Khaira, "Why don't you go out and then use it (mobile phone)," which led to a strong verbal altercation during which the opposition MLA hurled an accusation against the chief minister. Meanwhile, the speaker appealed for order and insisted that the chair be addressed.
However, both Mann and Khaira continued arguing and could be seen pointing fingers at each other as the proceedings of the house were disrupted.
The AAP MLAs also rose from their seats with Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema condemning Khaira for his conduct and demanded action against him.
Cheema further alleged that Khaira "always tries to disturb the house" as he spoke about his conduct in the assembly.
The incident occurred as an official resolution on the revision of wages was presented at the special session by Labour Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond who said it paid homage to labourers on the International Workers' Day.
"Workers are the axis of construction of the nation, the community, the state and society. Every construction project succeeds only through their blood and sweat," the resolution read.
As per the resolution, "The base rate of minimum wages for the working class in Punjab was last revised in the year 2012. Although the dearness allowance has continued to increase since 2012, there has been no increase in the base rate of minimum wages.
On this sacred occasion of May Day, in this special session of the legislative assembly, this house proposes to revise and increase the minimum wages of labourers and strongly recommends to the government to take a decision regarding the increase of minimum wages for workers, so that the contributions of the workers can be acknowledged." PRK
