Women's T20 Challenge 2019: Match 1, Supernovas vs Trailblazers – Statistical Highlights

The Women’s T20 Challenge kick-started in style with Trailblazers defeating the Supernovas in the opening game by a narrow 2-run margin. The Trailblazers’ skipper Smriti Mandhana smashed a 67-ball 90 with 13 boundaries to take her team to 140/5 on a tough batting surface. The Supernovas lost momentum in the middle overs and as required rate crept over 10.

The equation came down to 19 needed in the last over where the Supernovas captain Harmanpreet Kaur hit four boundaries in first five balls bowled by Jhulan Goswami before missing out on the last delivery. This tournament will be considered in the official records, unlike the last season’s one-off game where more than 11 players were allowed to take from each team.

Here are some major stats and numbers recorded during the first game of the tournament:

Nearly the IPL record:

90 – Smriti Mandhana scored 90 facing 67 deliveries with help of ten fours and three sixes while leading the Trailblazers. Only Shreyas Iyer has had a higher score on IPL captaincy debut as he scored an unbeaten 93 for the Delhi franchise during the 2018 IPL against KKR.

Smriti’s best as captain:

90 – Smriti Mandhana registered her highest score in a Twenty20 innings while leading the team. Her previous highest T20 score as captain was 69* for Maharashtra in the 2016 Domestic T20 against Goa.

Overall, this is Mandhana’s 3rd highest T20 score behind 102 for Western Storm in KSL 2018 and 96* for Maharashtra in the 2013 Domestic T20 game for Maharashtra.

Kaur falls three runs short:

17-6 – Harmanpreet Kaur ended up on the losing side in six out of 23 instances where she remained unbeaten in Women’s Twenty20 chases. Four out of the six instances came during the 2016/17 season including three in the WBBL for Sydney Thunder.

A rare maximum less knock from Harmanpreet:

46* – Harmanpreet scored an unbeaten 46 from 34 balls which is her 5th highest score in Twenty20 without hitting a four. Kaur scored 46 or more runs on 26 instances in T20s and hit at least one six in 21 of those. She scored 64* for Punjab in 2014 Domestic T20 tournament against Assam with ten fours but did not hit a six. It is Kaur’s highest T20 score without a maximum thus far.

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