The youngest player in the USA Women's squad in Rwanda produced arguably the most impressive individual performance of the tour, taking 2 for 12 and following it with a maiden T20I half-century in USA's title-clinching win over Italy. 

Photo credit: ICC

By Peter Della Penna (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
Teenage legspinning allrounder Sainavi Kambalapalli produced USA Women’s most impressive individual performance on their tour of Africa as she started off the day with 2 for 12 off four overs before wrapping up the match with an unbeaten 52 off 51 balls as USA easily cruised past Italy by nine wickets on match day seven of the inaugural ICC Women’s Challenge Trophy in Rwanda. The win clinched the tournament title for USA as they moved four points clear of both Rwanda and Nepal with only one match day remaining in the event. 
 
Coming into the match, Kambalapalli had amassed 53 runs in six T20Is after making her official international debut on the opening day of the tournament and had a best of 24 against Rwanda. She not only more than doubled her career-best score, but she also nearly doubled her career runs tally in the same innings as she became the second-youngest USA Women’s T20I half-century maker at 16 years and 331 days. Only Disha Dhingra achieved the same feat younger for USA. 
 
USA made one change to the lineup from their previous win over Vanuatu, bringing Jivana Aras back into the lineup in place of Suhani Thadani. Italy won the toss, chose to bat first and got off to a fiery start behind Alexia Kontopirakis and captain Emilia Bartram, who added 34 in five overs. That included a 16-run over in the fourth in which Kontopirakis struck Lekha Shetty for two fours over the leg side before Bartram drove Shetty back over her head for six. Kontopirakis followed suit with a massive six of her own over midwicket off Ritu Singh in the fifth. 
 
But Kambalapalli ended the opening stand immediately after her introduction in the sixth over, getting Bartram to pull a short ball straight to Taranum Chopra on the ring at square leg who took a basic head height catch for 8 to make it 34 for 1. From then onwards, Italy struggled mightily against USA’s spinners. From the sixth through the 19^th over, Italy faced nothing but spin and managed to add just 55 runs across that 14-over stretch while losing seven wickets.  
 
Ilenia Sims was the next to go in the 11^th in slightly comical circumstances as she premeditated a walk across her stumps against Singh while trying to access fine leg. But Sims wound up taking herself out of reach of being able to hit the ball on a sharp turning offbreak from Singh that tamely knocked back the stumps for 9 to make it 51 for 2. 
 
Methnara Rathnayake fell one over later for 2, beaten through the gate on an attempted drive against Taranum Chopra’s offspin and bowled to make it 57 for 3 after 12. Kontopirakis broke a boundary drought that lasted more than eight overs when she launched Singh over midwicket for six in the 14^th. But just when it looked like she’d be ready to push for a strong finish for Italy, their innings collapsed in a heap during a 13-ball sequence in which they lost four wickets for just six runs. 
 
Chathurika Mahamalage was the first domino to fall in the sequence for 9, slog sweeping Kambalapalli’s final ball of the day to Chetna Pagydyala at deep midwicket for a straightforward catch to make it 83 for 4 after 17 overs. Kontopirakis slowed down considerably after her six against Singh in the 14^th and crawled through the 40s before finally perishing one short of what would have been her maiden T20I fifty when she swiped across the line against Aditi Chudasama and missed badly before being given lbw to make it 85 for 5 after 18.
 
Emma Moore ran herself out for 2 in the 19^th, unable to complete a second after slicing Chopra to deep third where Vaghela ran back from backward point to retrieve before firing a relay to wicketkeeper Pooja Ganesh which had Moore short by two yards to make it 89 for 6. Incoming striker Dilaisha Nanayakkara got out for a golden duck when she walked across her stumps to pull Chopra through the leg side but managed to play the shot too fine and wound up scooping the ball straight onto her stumps to make it 89 for 7. 
 
After the lengthy stretch of nothing but spin, Maahi Madhavan returned for the final over. She leaked two boundaries off her first two deliveries of the over, though one came off a misfield at deep midwicket, before bouncing back on the final ball of the innings to bowl Kumudu Peddrick with a yorker for 13 as Italy ended on 99 for 8 off their 20 overs. 
 
Aside from Kambalapalli’s team-leading figures, Chopra took 2 for 15 off her four overs. Chudasama ended with 1 for 15 off her four overs while Madhavan ended with 1 for 13 off two. Singh returned 1 for 18 off three overs as USA’s other wicket-taker. Aras bowled a lone over that conceded four runs while Shetty bowled two overs that gave away 21 runs. 
 
Kambalapalli opened up USA’s chase with a boundary through the leg side on the first legal delivery she faced and mostly cruised from there on after. Two more fours came off Kontopirakis in the third over before she survived a very difficult chance on 18 in the fifth when an attempted cut shot was edged and dropped by wicketkeeper Rathnayake standing up to the stumps to Peddrick. Kambalapalli then rubbed salt into the wound in the sixth when she punched Sims for two more boundaries as USA ended the Powerplay at 41 for 0. 
 
Italy’s sloppy fielding got worse when Pagydyala was dropped on 8 in the eighth over off Sims when a basic loopy chance to extra cover fell to the ground after two fielders collided with each other going for the catch. Pagydyala then hit her next ball for four off Sims before striking two boundaries off Bartram in the 10^th, including one off a misfield at deep midwicket, as USA reached the 10-over drinks break at 67 for 0. 
 
When play resumed, Pagydyala had another life on 26 when she skied a drive off Nanayakkara that was dropped by Sims on a diving effort coming forward from long-on. The opening pair looked like they would take USA all the way home but Pagydyala finally fell in the 15^th over with victory in sight when she tried to flick Mahamalage to the leg side but produced a leading edge to extra cover for an easy catch taken by Peddrick for 36 to make it 89 for 1. 
 
Kambalapalli started the 16^th over on 47 and after a single by new batter Vaghela put her on strike, she pulled her next delivery from Moore over square leg for her seventh boundary to bring up a 49-ball half-century. After a series of singles to end the over, Vaghela started the 17^th on strike and hit Himanshi Daluwatta’s only ball of the match for four through mid-on for the winning runs. 
 
Mahamalage ended with impressive figures of 1 for 7 off four overs. Five of Italy’s bowlers ended with economy rates into the double-digits on a day in which they were not helped by the fielders behind them. 
 
In the day’s other match, Nepal throttled Vanuatu by 83 runs. Nepal posted a total of 132 for 3 batting first before bowling out Vanuatu for 49 in reply. Opener Samjhana Khadka top-scored with 52 for Nepal while medium pacer Kabita Kunwar took 6 for 5, including a hat-trick. She dismissed Gillian Chilia, Alvina Chilia and Anna Griffin off the first three balls of the 15^th over to achieve the feat, and later dismissed Melissa Fare and Rayline Ova off consecutive deliveries but could not complete a second hat-trick because Ova’s wicket was the final one of the match. All six of her wickets were out bowled. 
 
USA’s final match of the tournament is on Friday morning against hosts Rwanda. Nepal plays Italy in the final match later in the day. Both Nepal and Rwanda sit on eight points and so the pair of results will determine second place in the tournament behind champions USA, who will enter the day on 12 points with six wins from seven matches.