IPL 2018, Supernovas vs Trailblazers: Ellyse Perry's four is SK Turning Point of the match

Harmanpreet Kaur's Supernovas beat Smriti Mandhana's Trailblazers by 3 wickets to claim victory in the first ever IPL-like historic T20 game in India, which was hosted at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday (May 22).

The contest was between two teams that consisted of international cricketers from India, Englan, Australia, and South Africa.

The Supernovas won the toss and decided to bowl first, restricting the Trailblazers to 129 for the loss of six wickets after 20 overs. Suzie Bates, who was the Woman of the Match, played an important knock of 32 off 37 deliveries to take her team to a fighting total. The chase was exciting, to say the least, as the match went down to the very last delivery of the game.

The target set by Mandhana was about 20 runs short and ultimately, that's what led to their downfall on the day. They failed to clear the boundary even once in their entire innings, as opposed to the Supernovas, who smashed three sixes during the chase. The match came down to the wire, though, and it was Ellyse Perry's calm in the final two overs that took her team over the line.

The SK Turning Point of the game came in the 19th over of the second innings, when she smartly guided the ball to the third man boundary to get four runs for her side. She hit it when her side required 8 runs off 9 deliveries.

The four from Perry was very important in the context of the game, more so after considering the fact that the chase went down to the last delivery of the match. The shot released a lot of pressure in terms of the target and once it was hit, all the Supernovas had to do was take simple singles in the final over to take the match home. That is exactly what they did and thus, managed to win the encounter by three wickets.

"This was such an incredible experience. It was a very competitive match, which finished with a lot of excitement in the middle. It was a great opportunity to come to Wankhede and play on such a big occasion. It has been awesome. It's great for the health of the game for us to play in different conditions under different coaches. IPL for women has been the missing piece of the puzzle and this, certainly, is a very good start," said the Australian all-rounder after the game.

This was a crucial game for women's cricket in India and hopefully, will pave the way for more such initiatives in the future. The crowd that turned up for the match was meager, though, and shows discouraging signs for the sport going forward. However, the coverage for the match through different forms of media was excellent throughout the 40 overs, which will be a certain positive that can be taken away from the same.

---

Our tournament homepage has IPL live score, Match Analysis, Detailed Stats, Fantasy Tips, Controversies, Match Predictions and much more. Bookmark it now!