Mithali Raj Belts Unbeaten Double Ton

INDIAN RAILWAYS VS KARNATAKA ---- SEMI FINALS India and Railways skipper Mithali Raj belted an unbeaten double ton to put Indian Railways in a strong position on the first day of the Two Day Semi Finals of the Senior National women's cricket Tournament at the RDT Stadium, Anantapur. Indian Railways won the toss and elected to bat. Openers Sulakshana Naik and Sunetra Paranjpe gave Railways a sound start puttin on 69 runs off 21 overs before Paranjpe ( 26, 4 fours) was smartly stumped by Karuna Jain off the bowling of leg spinner Deepika Babu. In walked Mithali Raj and completely dominated the Karnataka bowling scoring 210 not out off 213 balls. She scored 29 boundaries. Sulakshana Naik played the supporting role and helped herself to a 118 off 156 balls with the help of 13 fours and a six over mid wicket. She was lucky to have survived an easy stumping, a caught behind and a simple caught and bowled chance. She added 180 runs with Mithali before being dismissed LBW by off spinner Sunitha Vasudevan.

With Rumeli Dhar contributing 71 in a fourth wicket partnership of 146 Railways speeded up the scoring rate and ended the day at 436 for 5 off the allotted 90 overs. Karnataka bowlers toiled hard and the fielders displayed enthusiasm and energy till the very last over. Sunitha Vasudevan picked two for 109, Deepika Babu 2 for 132 and the unlucky Vilasini had to be content with just 1 for 97. Karnataka will bat tommorow.