Karnataka to meet Railways in quarterfinals

By S. Sabanayakan

ASANSOL, FEB. 22. The 25th senior National women's cricket championship opened at the Asansol Stadium here on Thursday with a thumping victory for Karnataka. The 141-run win Karnataka achieved over Delhi was as convincing as it was pleasing.

Karnataka would now meet the holder Railways in the quarterfinals to be played on Saturday.

Electing to bat, Karnataka ladies proved a handful for Delhi right from the start. Having finished third in the South Zone meet behind Andhra Pradesh and Air India, Karnataka made it to the National because Air India which was a finalist last year at Jorhat in Assam, was an automatic choice.

The batswoman who really propped up the Karnataka innings was opener Bollamma. The right-hander, beginning the innings with Laxmi Kumar, played a good knock of 77 and was involved in two fruitful partnership for the first and second wickets.

She put on 63 runs for the first wicket with Laxmi and added 95 for the second wicket with B.N. Rupa to give Karnataka a flying start. Bollamma, in a stay of 185 minutes, played 128 balls and hit six fours. Laxmi scored 20 and Rupa 27 before Nooshin al Khater contributed 27 as Karnataka ended at 234 for five in 49 overs.

Chasing a victory target of 235 in 49 overs, Delhi, No. 2 from North Zone behind Punjab, was dismissed for 93 in 31.4 overs. Reema Malhotra, who had bagged two Karnataka wickets for 35 runs, defied the rival attack in scoring 25. Former Andhra Pradesh star now turning out for Delhi, left-handed Shabina Ashraf hit up 26 as Reema and she added 58 runs for the third wicket to raise hopes of a fightback.

It was not to be as Karnataka off-spinner Srivalli produced a fine spell to trigger a collapse. Srivalli bowled 9.4 overs and claimed five wickets for 18 runs to register her personal best in this championship.

On the second day on Friday, three pre-quarterfinal matches are on the cards. Central Zone champion Uttar Pradesh will play West Zone No. 3 Maharashtra at Chittaranjan; South Zone No. 1 Andhra Pradesh will take on East Zone champion Jharkhand at Asansol and Central Zone runner-up Madhya Pradesh will clash with West No. 2 Mumbai at Burnpur. All the matches will be of 50-over- a-side affair.

Earlier, additional district magistrate, Mr. Manoj Pant, inaugurated the 10-day championship. He was introduced to the two teams before the game. All the eight sides, figuring in the pre- quarterfinals, have already arrived here. Four more, the host Bengal, defending champion Railways, runner-up Air India and Punjab, are expected to reach here by Friday.

The scores: Karnataka 234 for five in 49 overs (Bollamma 77, Rupa 27, Nooshin al Khater 27) bt Delhi 93 (Reema Malhotra 25, Shabina Ashraf 26; Srivalli five for 18).

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