Railways emerged winners of the Senior Women’s T20, Elite Super League in the 2016-17 season. The Veda Krishnamurthy-led team were unbeaten in the league phase and finished at the top of the points table.
In their first outing, Railways beat Hyderabad by nine runs to kick start their campaign. Mithali Raj set up the win with a sparkling unbeaten century after Krishnamurthy elected to bat. Her whirlwind knock was complemented by Punam Raut’s 55-ball 66 not out to set the opposition a 168-run target. Poonam Yadav (two wickets) and Co. then defended the formidable total to clinch victory.
In their second game, they again cantered to a nine-wicket win, this time against Bengal. After restricting Bengal to 82 for six, Ekta Bisht picked two wickets while Soni Yadav, Swagathika Rath and N Niranjana picked a wicket each to set up the game for Railways. Chasing the sub-par score, Raut returned to the pavilion for 28 but MD Thirushkamini and Niranjana took the team across the line.
Railways then claimed the title with a resounding win against Madhya Pradesh in the last game. Mithali once again led the charge to set up the match in Railways’ favour. With an unbeaten 64-ball 83 she helped set the opponents a 169-run target. Niranjana then provided the first breakthrough with the wicket of Shweta Mishra. Bisht and Yadav then chipped in with a wicket each while Rajeshwari and Rath claimed a wicket each to bowl MP out for 96 and seal victory with three overs to spare.
With 18 wickets from seven matches MP’s Nidhi Buley topped the list of highest wicket-takers in the senior women’s T20 league while Mithali Raj holds the No. 1 position in the run-getters list with 311 runs from seven matches (six innings).
