NAGPUR: Promising opener Aarohi Bambode batted confidently and steered the ball across the ropes to post a handsome half-century which guided Vidarbha to their second consecutive win in the women's under-19 T20 encounter on Sunday.
The southpaw Aarohi's (74 n.o off 75 balls) knock helped Vidarbha crush Meghalaya by 75 runs at the Gymkhana Ground in Hyderabad.
Chasing 130, Meghalaya could manage just 54 for 9 in the stipulated overs. Put in to bat, Aarohi, who struck 12 boundaries, made her intent clear right from the word go. She played some really good cover drives off pacers. Once she got her eyes in, she stepped out and sent Meghalaya spinners over the circle and pierced the mid-wicket boundary on five occasions. The opener also hit some impressive sweep shots to help Vidarbha maintain a good run-rate.
Aarohi and her practice partner Shraddha Nabira (12 off 11b) were involved in the highest partnership (39 off 32 balls) of the match. She also had a 38-run stand for the second wicket with Rupali Sahare (5).Though Vidarbha were just a notch better than a run-a-ball, VCA officials were happy with the batting display.
"If you look at our past (pre-Covid) record, this is a much better performance. We hardly had an opener before who batted all the 20 overs and maintained a strike rate of 95+. It's a good effort by Arohi and the team," said a senior VCA official associated with women's cricket.
While defending, Vidarbha skipper Janhvi Ranganathan (3 for 12) was the wrecker-in-chief. On Saturday, Vidarbha had recorded a 9-wicket victory over Sikkim and Aarohi was unbeaten on 24.
BRIEF SCORES:
Vidarbha 129 for 3 in 20 overs (Aarohi Bambode 74 n.o; N Roy 1-32, Ankita S 1-22) beat Meghalaya 54 for 9 in 20 overs (M Lyngdoh 12; Janhvi Ranganathan 3-12) by 75 runs
