It took the Delhi women’s teams to save the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) from total embarrassment in the ongoing domestic season. The men’s teams have performed largely poorly and have failed to win a title so far, though they are still in contention in two tournaments: the Ranji Trophy and the under-23 CK Nayudu Trophy (Elite).
In comparison, the women’s teams fared much better than their male counterparts. They reached the knockout stage in three tournaments, and the under-23 team, led by Tanisha Singh, clinched the T20 Trophy and prevented DDCA from another blank season. Last season, too, Delhi had reached the under-23 T20 Trophy final, but lost to Madhya Pradesh.
In this season’s under-23 T20 Trophy final against Mumbai, played in Trivandrum, left-arm spinner Bharti Rawal and off-spinner Madhu Dhama rose to the occasion and saved their team from a potential disaster. After the Tanisha Singh-led Delhi’s batting collapsed on an overused pitch at St. Xavier’s Ground and were restricted to 110 for eight wickets in 20 overs, Bharti, 21, captured four wickets for a mere 15 runs in four overs and 21-year-old Madhu snared three for 10 in 3.1 overs to skittle out Mumbai for 93 in 18.1 overs. At one stage, Bharti bagged two wickets in three balls to squeeze life out of the Mumbai challenge.
Bharti was adjudged the Player of the Final, while Delhi all-rounder Deeksha Sharma won the Player of the Series award. “I am very happy and satisfied with the team’s performance,” Amita Sharma, chairperson of the senior women’s selection committee, told Patriot after the final on January 22.
Middle-order batter Deeksha was the fourth highest run scorer of the tournament with 225 runs at an average of 45 in seven matches, with one unbeaten century, while Monika, also a middle-order batter, made 185 runs at 61.67 in seven matches, with one hundred. In bowling, Bharti emerged as the joint top wicket-taker of the competition, along with Rajasthan’s UA Pareriya, with 14 wickets each.
Earlier, in the semifinals, Madhu had starred in Delhi’s nine-wicket win over Assam. She captured four wickets for 10 in four overs, and leg-spinner Priya Mishra bagged two wickets for 19 to help Delhi bundle out Assam for 69 in 18.5 overs. In reply, Delhi reached the target (70) for the loss of one wicket in 14.5 overs. Captain Tanisha scored an unbeaten 37 off 36 balls, while opener-cum-wicketkeeper Pragya Rawat made 25 not out off 39 balls. Madhu was adjudged the Player of the Match.
At the pool stage, Delhi won all its matches to top Group B and earned 20 points to storm into the quarterfinals, where it defeated Karnataka by nine wickets.
Crucial factors
Sharma underlined continuity and investment in developing Delhi teams.
“Another important thing is that there has been continuity in the management, selectors, and coaching staff vis-à-vis Delhi’s women’s cricket. Since we have been watching the same girls for three years and know their ‘ins and outs’, we didn’t have to go through their scoresheets, which don’t always portray everything correctly about players’ performances. So, we got the advantage of continuity factor,” said the former India Test pacer.
“I have been associated with Delhi for four years. The best part is that there was a bunch of 20-25 girls whom we had identified and invested in three-four seasons ago and they have gained experience and are delivering the results now. For example, Tanisha Singh, Madhu Dhama, and Pragya Rawat have progressed from the junior to senior level and have performed well,” she added.
While reminding that a couple of best performers from the last season have progressed to the senior team this year, Sharma acknowledged that the selectors have been given a free hand to select teams.
Pointing to the rich bench strength, the chairperson of the selection panel underlined: “We missed five players in the league stage of the under-23 T20 Trophy as they were selected for the Senior Challenger Trophy and those who filled in the gap from the bench performed outstandingly well.”
Gautam Vadhera, team director-cum-head coach of T20 Delhi Premier League (DPL) franchise Central Delhi Queens, credits T20 DPL, conducted ahead of this domestic season, for contributing to Delhi teams’ fine show in the national women’s tournaments.
“The DPL played a crucial role in Delhi teams’ performance. Talent was always in Delhi, but the exposure was missing. The DPL helped cricketers get that vital exposure and it reflected in their performance this season,” the former Delhi batsman told Patriot.
Sharma concurred and highlighted that the DPL significantly boosted players’ confidence while also simplifying the selection process.
“The DPL proved an advantage not just for players, who gained confidence, but for us selectors, too. In Delhi, usually the selection process starts with open trials. But this time, when we were selecting the Delhi teams, we had in our minds players who had performed well in the T20 DPL. So, our selection process became a bit easy. I’ve requested the DDCA management to increase the number of matches in the next T20 DPL. That would help both the players and the selectors,” she said.
Heartbreaker
Delhi’s other noteworthy performance came in the Senior One-Day Trophy, where they were unlucky to lose their quarterfinal match to Mumbai in the closest way possible: the Super Over tie-breaker.
Both teams scored 321 in 50 overs in Rajkot, though Delhi lost only five wickets to Mumbai’s seven. In the Super Over, Delhi scored 17 without losing a wicket, and Mumbai won by scoring 23 without loss.
Ayushi was consistent throughout and ended as the third-highest scorer of the tournament with 452 runs, including six half-centuries, in seven innings.
Tanisha Singh also performed well with the bat, scoring 357 runs in eight games, with two centuries and a fifty. Among the bowlers, off-spinner Madhu Dhama was the pick of the lot. She bagged 18 wickets in eight matches to end up as the third-best wicket-taker of the tournament. Left-arm spinner Sumiti Soni also performed well, taking 17 wickets in eight encounters.
Batting woes
In the third competition in which a Delhi women’s team progressed beyond the pool stage, the Under-19 One-Day Trophy, the Sumiti Soni-led Delhi made it to the quarterfinals but lost to Uttar Pradesh after their batting came a cropper in this important encounter played in Puducherry on January 19.
Uttar Pradesh bowlers, led by Supriya Arela, who bagged three wickets, restricted Delhi to 162 for nine in 50 overs. It was a sub-par total, and Delhi bowlers found it difficult to defend. Uttar Pradesh completed the formality in just 40 overs.
Earlier, Delhi performed brilliantly to win all their five Group D matches to qualify for the quarterfinals.
Armeet ended as the best batter for Delhi with 429 in six matches, scoring two centuries and one 50-plus knock. Nishika Singh also did well, tallying 302 runs in six games, with one hundred and two half-centuries. Among the Delhi bowlers, Mahi Chauhan captured 12 wickets in six matches at 11.50.
Some disappointment
Delhi’s women’s team was knocked out in the league stages of three tournaments this season. In the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy, they finished third with 16 points, behind Madhya Pradesh and Punjab, and missed out on the knockout stage due to a loss to Punjab.
In the Under-19 T20 Trophy, Delhi finished third in Group D with two wins and two losses. A match against Odisha was abandoned, and even with a win, Delhi wouldn’t have advanced because Maharashtra and Haryana topped the group. No individual performances stood out in either tournament, leading to their exit.
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In the Under-15 One-Day Trophy, Delhi won three of their five Group B matches but still failed to progress as two teams – pool toppers Karnataka (20 points) and Baroda (14) – performed better than them and advanced. Delhi finished with 12 points.
Among Delhi’s top individual performers, captain Ananya was the highest scorer, with 227 runs at a good average of 56.75 in five matches, including an unbeaten century, while Hanaya took six wickets in four matches.
The finale
Two more women’s tournaments remain this season. The Under-23 One-Day Trophy will be played from March 5-26 at various venues. Delhi will play all their league games in Chandigarh. The Senior Multi-Day Challenger Trophy, in which teams named A, B, C, and D will compete, is scheduled for March 18-April 1 in Dehradun.
Earlier, three other women’s Challenger tournaments were staged in which competing teams were based on players coming from various associations.
Team E clinched the five-team Senior T20 Challenger Trophy, played from November 17-27 in Ranchi. Team C was the champion of the Senior One-Dayl Challenger Trophy, played from January 5-15 in Chennai. Team A won the Under-19 T20 Challenger Trophy, played from October 24-30 in Raipur.