da bet7： Yesterday when the West Zone side were defending a smallish totalagainst East Zone, they opted to shuffle their bowling line up andopened with off spinner Sonali Chandok
Anand Vasu03-Apr-2000Yesterday when the West Zone side were defending a smallish totalagainst East Zone, they opted to shuffle their bowling line up andopened with off spinner Sonali Chandok. That paid rich dividends.Extending the thinking to today’s game, West Zone opened the battingwith Arti Vaidya and Amrutha Shinde. Amrutha batted in the middleorder in the previous game and did not make too many runs. However,Amrutha played the sheet anchor role to perfection against South Zone,carrying her bat through the innings. In the company of her captain,Kalyani, who also picked up a half century she took West Zone to acomfortable eight wicket victory.West Zone’s second match in the CricInfo Rani Jhansi Trophy 2000 atthe Chemplast IIT stadium got off to a less than ideal start when theylost the toss to the South Zone team. The South Zone captain Lakshmihad no hesitation in electing to bat. The conditions were ideal forbatting with the ball coming on to the bat nicely. The fact that theoutfield was perfectly green and trimmed made it lightning fast.Opening the bowling, skipper Kalyani and Neelima bowled an impeccableline and length. Keeping the ball just short of a length and outsidethe off stump in the area Geoff Boycott calls the ‘corridor ofuncertainty’ the two medium pacers choked the South Zone openers. BothHamsavalli and Karuna Jain struggled to rotate the strike. Hamsavalliin particular struggled, playing over 20 balls before she could getoff the mark. At the end of 15 overs, South could manage just 22runs. Trying to push the scoring rate to something approaching whatwould be competitive, Hamsavalli fell being stumped by ‘keeperSulakshana Naik off the bowling of Amrutha Shinde. Lured out by theteasing loop of the spinner, Hamsavalli was beaten both in the air andoff the wicket. Her slow innings of 38 balls yielded just seven runs.Harsha Harinarayan came in at the fall of the first wicket and did notlast long. Attempting to heave Nilima through the off side, Harshaended up dragging the ball back onto her stumps.Neelima had completed her 10 overs, bowling them on the trot. Sheended with the impeccable figures of 10-3-17-1, picking up her onlywicket in the last over of her spell. Bowling with good pacethroughout her long spell, Neelima wholly deserved the wicket shepicked. With luck on her side, she could easily have had anotherwicket to her name. In the 17th over, Sonali Chandok standing at slipgrassed a chance that should have been taken. This let Harsha off thehook, but fortunately for West Zone, she was dismissed soon after.A period of increased run scoring ensued after the 30th over. VanitaViola played a few more shots than her team mates had, stroking theball nicely through the off side. When the loose ball was on offer shewas quick to capitalise, working it away into the outfield forruns. Vanita looked the most comfortable of the South Zone batswomen.However, as the slog overs neared, the South Zone batswomen attemptedmore and more big shots, with very limited success. Having opened thebowling in her first game, off spinner Sonali Chandok played a verydifferent role against South Zone. She was introduced late in theinnings and bowled through to the close. Giving the ball a lot ofair, she enticed the South Zone batsmen into false shots as theyattempted to swing her over the onside field. Wickets fell at regularintervals and at the end of 50 overs South Zone had 137/9 on theboard.Even senior Indian men’s cricketers have found it difficult to playthe role of sheet anchor. They get bogged down and often are unable torotate the strike. Amrutha on the other hand had no suchtrouble. Picking ones and twos at will she shut out the South Zoneteam completely. At the other end, her captain responded to situationin fine style. Playing the bowling on merit, Kalyani Umarani realisedthere was no hurry. When the ball was up for the shot, Kalyani plantedher front foot down the wicket and swung the ball effortlessly throughthe on side.It was fitting that Kalyani brought up her fifty in what turned out tobe the last ball of the innings. The single that brought up her fiftyalso took West Zone to a comprehensive eight wicket victory.At the end of the day, Amrutha Shinde was unbeaten on 59 while thecaptain Kalyani had scored exactly 50. Yesterday it was the same pairthat got the runs, with 29 and 20 respectively.West Zone have now won two out of two matches. Air India have alsodone the same. As the tournament progresses, the competition isheating up. West Zone are showing that they are one of the primecontenders for the trophy.