Allrounder Rakhi scripts Kerala win

Kochi: All-round performance from P. Rakhi helped Kerala defeat Jharkhand in the senior girls' elite cricket tournament at Vijayawada on Monday .

The right-arm medium pacer from Thiruvananthapuram bagged four wickets to make a thrilling win possible after scoring a valuable 28 as opener.

Rakhi dismissed Jharkhand's main player Seema Singh for 38 and then hunted down the lower order as the opposition fell steeply from 72 for 4 to 87 all out.

The Kerala players were also positive on the field with Jincy George and wicket-keeper Judit Cleetus involved in five of the Jharkhand wickets.

Earlier, Kerala recovered from a shaky 9 for 3 with Rakhi anchoring the innings with last year’s state junior cricketer of the year Anjana Paul who made 18.

However, it was A.J. Aswathymol who top scored with 29 runs and in the end Viji Thomas and Sajana S. were unbeaten on 11 and 15 respectively to help Kerala to 112 in 50 overs.

B Br ri ie ef f s sc co or re es s: : Kerala 112/6 in 50 overs (Aswathymol 29, Rakhi 28, Anjana 18) bt Jharkhand 87 in 40.4 overs (Seema 38, Rakhi 4/24)