Kanpur: Shishira A Gowada’s splendid century and her 126-run opening stand with skipper S Shubha guided Karnataka to a narrow 17-run victory over Uttar Pradesh in their Senior Women One Day Trophy match at the Sanosara Cricket Ground in Rajkot on Friday.Asked to bat first, Karnataka posted a challenging total of 282 for 6. Shishira led the charge with a fine knock of 119 off 128 balls, striking 19 boundaries, before being dismissed by Anjali Singh. Shubha contributed a valuable 57. Archana Devi was the most successful bowler for Uttar Pradesh, finishing with three wickets. In reply, Uttar Pradesh fell short despite a fighting century from one-down batter Muskan Malik, who scored 115 off 120 balls, including 14 fours and two sixes. Muskan shared an 86-run partnership for the third wicket with Nishi Kashyap, but the stand was broken when Saloni P induced Nishi to go for a big hit and Soumya Verma completed the stumping, with Nishi departing for 40. Muskan later added 54 runs off just 32 balls for the fifth wicket with Archana Devi, who remained unbeaten on 46 off 37 balls, hitting seven boundaries. However, the lower order failed to provide adequate support as Uttar Pradesh were restricted to 265, handing Karnataka a hard-fought 17-run win. Brief scores: Karnataka: 282 for 6 (S Shubha 57, Shishira Gowda 119; Archana Devi 3/64, Shilpi Yadav 2/50) UP: 265 for 9 (Muskan Malik 115, Nishi Kashyap 40, Archana Devi 46; Rajeshwari 2/66, Tejeshwini 2/30, Saloni P 3/55).
