Railways proves its superiority again

By S. Sabanayakan

JORHAT, MARCH 27. Indian Railways once again proved its invincibility in women's cricket annexing the crown for the 13th time beating arch-rival Air India by 122 runs on the final day of the three- day summit clash at the Jorhat Stadium here on Monday. Railways, in its 14th entry into the final, won it for the 11th time outright and finished joint winner twice and lost only once that too to Air India in 1997 at Calcutta.

For Air India the last triumph came in 1998 at Muzaffarnagar where it shared the trophy with Railways after the game was washed out. For Railways skipper Diana Edulji, who has been playing from the inaugural Nationals held in 1973, today's victory was a very satisfying one. She as a player took part in the 24th Nationals out of which her team (either Bombay or Railways) triumphed for the 16th time. This will be one record that will stay on for a long time.

After taking the lead of 145 runs on Sunday and virtually making sure of the title, Railways ended the second innings at 166 for nine in the stipulated 45 overs. Two down for 13 in nine overs overnight, Railways rode on Balvir Kaur's 62 off 75 balls with three sixes and as many fours and Rajini Venugopal's 34 (77 balls) to leave an impossible target of 312 to win in 45 overs.

Needing 6.93 per over to dethrone Railways, Air India ended at 189 for seven in 45 overs.

Air India had planned to restrict Railways within 100 runs in the second innings and managed to pin it down at 58 for four. But Rajini Venugopal and Balvir had different ideas and denied any success till 99 when Rajini fell for 34. Balvir, playing some superb shots all round despite some tight bowling and much improved fielding, made sure the Railways lead went past the realms of impossibility.

When she fell at 166 for nine, Air India had lost all the realistic chances of making a match of it. Pacer Kusumlatha strove hard to capture three for 46.

Air India began with Purnima Rau and Anju Jain, but could not dominate the Railways attack and failed to maintain the run rate. Purnima went for 26 and Anju Jain for 15 before Anjum Chopra and Kusumlatha, promoted to No. 4, tried hard but all their efforts went in vain, thanks to negative bowling and defensive field setting.

Air India lost wickets at regular intervals. Only Mithali Raj and Manju Nadgoda put on 43 runs for the seventh wicket. By then it was all over for Air India. Pacer Renu Margaret picked up two early wickets and later left-arm spinner Deepa Kulkarni bagged three for 50.

Air India's Anjum Chopra, with an aggregate of 208 runs from three matches and four innings, was declared the woman of the series. Punjab's Gulshan Sharma was declared the best batswoman as she totalled 182 with two not outs. Railway's Deepa Kulkarni, with a haul of 11 for 81, was adjudged the best bowler.

The Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, Mr. Arvind Dave, gave away the trophies.

The scores:

Railways-1st innings (90 overs): 353.

Air India-1st innings (90 overs): 208.

Railways-2nd innings: Rajini Sharma lbw b Purnima 25, Reshma Gandhi c Anju b Smitha 1, Purnima Chowdhury (run out) 6, Rajini Venugopal c Sunaina b Usha 34, Hemlata Kala c Mithali b Seema 8, Balvir Kaur c Mithali b Kusumlatha 62, Deepa Kulkarni b Kusumlatha 13, Renu Margaret (run out) 1, Rupanjali Shastri st Anju b Kusumlatha 9, Sunita Kanojia (not out) 1. Extras (b-4, lb- 2) 6. Total (for nine wkts. in 45 overs) 166.

Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-13, 3-42, 4-58, 5-99, 6-142, 7-143, 8- 165, 9-166.

Air India bowling: Smitha Harikrishna 6- 0-20-1, Kusumlatha 13-1- 46-3, Purnima Rau 9-1-29-1, Seema Pujari 11-2-41-1, Usha Bogade 6-0-24-1.

Air India-2nd innings: Anju Jain c Reshma b Renu 15, Purnima Rau c Diana b Renu 26, Anjum Chopra c Purnima b Rupanjali 39, Kusumlatha b Sunitha 17, Smitha Harikrishna st Reshma b Deepa 13, Mamatha Maben c Purnima Chowdhury b Deepa 9, Mithali Raj (not out) 35, Manju Nadgoda b Deepa 20, Sunaina Mehan (not out) 5. Extras (b-4, lb-6) 10. Total (for seven wkts. in 45 overs) 189.

Fall of wickets: 1-36, 2-60, 3-77, 4- 105, 5-117, 6-137, 7-180.

Railways bowling: Sunita Kanojia 9-0-34- 1, Renu Margaret 8-0-39- 2, Diana Edulji 4-0-15-0, Deepa Kulkarni 14-1-50-3, Rupanjali Shastri 10-1-41-1.

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