Meghana Rodrigues propel Trailblazers to 190 5 against Velocity in must-win game

     Pune, May 26 (PTI) Batting duo of Sabbhineni Meghana and Jemimah Rodrigues slammed scintillating fifties to propel Trailblazers to 190 for five against Velocity in a must-win Women's T20 Challenge match here on Thursday.
     Meghana, who was left out of their opening game, smashed a strokeful 73 off 47 balls en route to a 113-run partnership off 73 balls with Jemimah Ridrigues (66 off 44 balls) to set the foundation.
     Hayley Matthews (27 off 15) and Sophia Dunkley (19 off 8) provided the late charge as the defending champions scored the highest total in the history of the tournament.
     The only team to open their account yet, Trailblazers came into the match need a huge win to qualify for the finals. They will have to restrict Velocity within 158 to make the summit clash.
     Sent into bat, Meghana took the responsibility to steer the team after Trailblazers lost skipper Smriti Mandhana (1) early.
     The 25-year-old from Andhra Pradesh, who was dropped at 16 and 63, displayed her big-hitting skills, clobbering seven fours and four maximums.
     Rodrigues too had seven hits to the fence and one six in her 44-ball innings.
     Velocity was extremely sloppy on the field as their butterfingered fielders dropped as many as four catches -- two in Simran Bahadur's over.
     Meghana produced two good hits down the ground off Kate Cross but the bowler returned to dismiss Mandhana with Simran taking an easy catch.
     Cross could have added Meghana's wicket to her list but Sneh Rana dropped her at the point.
     Rodrigues then slammed two fours off Deepti Sharma as Trailblazers scored 47 for 1 in the powerplay.
     Meghana took apart the attack, dispatching Radha Yadav for two sixes -- one an inside out shot over covers and the second one over the bowler's head -- en route to her fifty in the 10th over.
     Rodrigues too played some exquisite shots and reached her fifty in the 14th over off 30 balls.
     Shafali Verma and Ayabonga Khaka bowled two decent overs but Meghana broke the shackles, launching Verma over long off for her third six.    
     Meghana got another reprieve when Khaka dropped her at backward point and she slammed a six and four off Rana before Cross held on to one at long-off to finally get rid off the opener.
     Rodrigues and Matthews added another 31 off 15 balls before the former was holed out to Khaka.
     Matthews and Dunkley shared 32 off 16 to take them closer to 200. PTI ATK SSC
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)