Mamatha - Vilasini rescue Karnataka

Skipper Mamatha Maben and Vilasini staged a marvelous rescue act against Hyderabad in the Senior South Zone Women's Championship ( Two Day Game ) at R D T Stadium, Ananthapur.Hyderabad won the toss and invited Karnataka to take first strike on a green top. The Hyderabad pacers were spot-on and picked three early wickets. Last match centurions Karuna Jain and Sindhu Ashok succumbed to left arm medium pacer Shravanthi Naidu while Deepika Babu slashed at an out-swinger from Rajini to be caught at point. With a very green and heavy outfield and smart fielding by the Hyderabad eves run making was made very difficult.

Under pressure, Karnataka lost two more wickets that of Hema Malini (34) and Veda Krishnamurthy and the scored looked an ominous 79 for 5 from 42.5 overs. At this stage Vilasini joined Mamatha in the middle. The pair played cautiously and took the score to 108 for 5 off 66 overs at tea. There-after Vilasini played some powerful shots and was ably assisted by Mamatha who stole singles and provided the strike. There were two interruptions due to rain and bad light before the game was called off for the day with Karnataka having recovered to a respectable 159 for 5. Mamatha Maben is batting on 46 ( 166 balls, 4 fours) while Vilasini is batting on 50 ( 97 balls, 9 fours) and thus far have put on 80 invaluable runs for the unbroken sixth wicket stand.

Brief Scores : Karnataka 159 for 5 in 75 overs : Hema Malini 34, Mamatha Maben 46 not out , Vilasini 50 not out, Shravanthi 2 for 22, Archana Das 2 for 18