Pokhara, 26 April (Hindustan). Simu Das and Phoola Saren struck unbeaten half-centuries as India beat Nepal by nine wickets in the second match of the blind women’s bilateral series to level the five-match series 1-1. Nepal won the first match yesterday.
In this match, India’s captain Sushma Patel won the toss and opted to field. Phoola Saren dismissed Geeta Paudel in the second over and last match’s centurion Binita was again run out in the third over, leaving Nepal at 24 for 2.
Ganga stopped the momentum of the hosts’ innings by dismissing Maya Lingali in the seventh over. After this, Sarita Ghimire and Bimla Rai gave some momentum to the innings by sharing an 84-run partnership for the fourth wicket. The Indian bowlers ended Nepal’s hopes of a big score by dismissing both the batsmen within two overs. Sarita scored 56 runs while Bimla scored 29 runs. The bowlers wrapped up the innings quickly and got Nepal all out on the last ball of the innings. Nepal’s team was all out for 172 runs in 20 overs. For India, Phula Sarin, Ganga and Sushma Patel took one wicket each and the rest were all run out.
In reply, Indian openers Ganga and Phoola Sareen scored quick runs in the first six overs to take the score to 64 in 6.2 overs, before Ganga was run out for 22. Phula was joined by B1 class player Simu Das and both the batsmen accelerated the pace of runs. Simu was mainly playing her strokes and scoring runs at will. He played an unbeaten inning of 66 runs in just 27 balls with the help of two fours. On the other hand, Fula Sarin scored 65 runs in 43 balls with the help of five fours. India crossed the target set by Nepal in 14.3 overs.
Simu Das was adjudged Player of the Match for his match-winning innings. The third match of the series will be played on Friday 28th at Mulpani Cricket Ground, Kathmandu.
