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Follow UsNadia District Sports Association's Women's cricket team created history yesterday with a hat-trick of Inter-district championship trophies. They defeated Hooghly District in a rain-affected match to clinch the trophy for the third time in a row. As per our knowledge, this is the first time in Bengal Cricket (Men's and Women's) that one team has won the inter-district tournament in three consecutive years.
It started raining the day teams travelled to Coochbehar for the knockout stage of the Inter-district Women's Tournament organised by the Cricket Association of Bengal. Nearly every match was affected by rain. Even Nadia won their quarter-final in the toss. "It was lucky for us that we won by the virtue of toss," said Mita Paul, the captain of the Nadia District team.
In the final, due to rain, the match was reduced to a six-over game. Hooghly won the toss and decided to bat first. But, Nadia's bowlers were on the mark with their line and length from the first ball. Ankita Barman sent Hooghly opener Sansthita Biswas early and they could not recover from that. Both Jhumia Khatun and Moli Mondal were economical in their lone overs as well. Both conceded 3 runs in their respective overs. Meanwhile, captain Mita Paul bowled two overs for 7 runs. Sushmita Ganguly was also close-fisted in her lone over.
Then two top scorers of the tournament Mita Paul and Priyanka Bala came to the crease for Nadia and took them home in just 3.3 overs. Mita finished with 10 off 7 and was adjudged Player of the Match for her all-round performance.
However, the match of the tournament was their semi-final against Howrah. Many senior Bengal players were against each other for their respective teams. Nadia managed to win that match by 5 runs. "We knew that was the final for us. That was the toughest match for us in the tournament," said Priyanka Bala, a senior Bengal player who was the highest run-scorer in the tournament. Priyanka had scored 154 runs in 5 matches including a century against Birbhum in just 65 balls.
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Abhijit Chaudhuri, the coach of the Nadia District Women's cricket team was delighted with the team's performance. "Everyone in the team has played their part in this tournament. I am very happy to be the coach of this team that won the trophy for three consecutive seasons. I thank every member of NDSA for supporting the women's cricket and the players," he said.
"If you ask me, every player from this team is capable of playing at a higher level. I am sure a few of the girls will go on to play more matches for Bengal and will represent India someday. Moreover, the best thing about them is that they listen and learn very quickly. This is very important when you play at a higher level," Abhijit Chaudhuri added.
Mita Paul, who will join the Senior Bengal camp right after returning home has said, "I thank everyone at NDSA for their immense support and care. As a captain, I am very happy with the team's performance. Everyone in the team performed well."
Mita now aims for a great domestic performance to fulfil her dream of playing for India. "I will have to do well in the T20s. The level of the game will be higher there for sure. I will have to be prepared for every opportunity that comes my way," Mita added.
Meanwhile, Priyanka is looking for more opportunities at the domestic level with Bengal. "In Railways, I did not get as much opportunity that I wanted. I was asking for the N.O.C for the last few years. This year Railways gave me the N.O.C to play for Bengal. I am hoping for more opportunities at the domestic level with Bengal," Priyanka said.
An interesting fact: Hooghly and Nadia played in the finals of both the men's and women's inter-district tournaments.