IND W vs SA W | Punam Raut, Mithali Raj help India seal series win over South Africa
After thrashing South Africa Women in the first ODI, half-centuries from Punam Raut and skipper Mithali Raj in the second ODI helped the Women in Blue take a 2-0 lead and thereby seal the series. Shikha Pandey, Poonam Yadav and Ekta Bisht also starred with the ball, claiming two wickets each.
Brief scores: IND W 248-5 (Mithali Raj 66 and Ayabonga Khaka 3/69) beat SA W 247-6 (Laura Wolvaardt 69 and Shikha Pandey 2/38)
The South African opening duo of Lizelle Lee and Laura Wolvaardt instantly made Mithali Raj regret her decision to bowl first, scoring runs at pace, racing off to 50 without losing a wicket. It wasn't until the 16th over that India Women got their first breakthrough, with leggie Poonam Yadav sending Lee back to the pavilion for 40. A handsome partnership between Mignon du Preez (40) and Wolvaardt (69) took the visitors' score to 201/3, but Shikha Pandey (2/38), Ekta Bisht (2/45) and Poonam Yadav (2/42) strangled the South Africa Women, restricting them to a score of 247.
In their quest of chasing 248, India lost both Jemimah Rodrigues (18) and Priya Punia (20) early, meaning the responsibility now fell on the shoulders of the experienced duo of Mithali Raj and Punam Raut to guide the hosts home. And both the experienced campaigners didn't give the visitors a sniff, stitching an immaculate 129-run partnership to put India in the driver's seat. And although both Raj (66) and Raut (65) fell in the space of three deliveries, Harmanpreet Kaur struck a powerful lower-order cameo (39*) to seal the match and the series for India.
The teams will now have a two-day layoff before regrouping again to play the third and final ODI at the Reliance Stadium in Vadodara on Monday (October 14).
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