IND W vs SA W | Brave Priya Punia stands tall as India women take 1-0 lead in ODIs
23-year-old debutant Priya Punia fittingly hit the winning runs as Indian womenâs cricket team beat South Africa in Vadodara. India's disciplined bowling attack, led by Jhulan Goswami, restricted South Africa to 164 after which Punia and Jemimah Rodrigues steered India towards victory.
India recorded a comfortable 3-1 win in the T20I leg a few days ago, they wore a confident look heading into the three-match womenâs ODI series against South Africa in Vadodara. The home team was without their star opening batter Smriti Mandhana due to a toe fracture during training. Her absence resulted in a debut for 23-year-old Priya Punia. Skipper Mithali Raj, meanwhile, wore the national jersey for the first time since announcing her retirement from T20Is.Â
India 165-2 (41.4) beat South Africa 164-10 (45.1 Ov) by 8 wickets
Jhulan Goswami picked up a wicket from the first ball of the innings with Lizelle Lee getting caught lbw. Trisha Chetty hit some lovely boundaries but could not rack up a huge score, while Laura Wolvaardt contributed with occasional hits to the fence. Once Ekta Bisht was introduced, the pressure on Proteas mounted further as she dismissed Trisha Chetty and Mignon du Preez in quick succession via stumping by Taniya Bhatia at a time when both the batters looked confident and kept the scoreboard ticking. Sune Luus walked in to repair the damage with Laura.
However, the latter was undone by a peach of a delivery by Deepti, which turned in sharply and found the timber. The only positive for the women in green was Marizanne Kapp, who toiled hard for a 54, the highest scorer in the innings. Kapp received no support from any of her teammates and she was eventually the last wicket to fall as Goswami wrapped up the innings and South Africa was bowled out in 45.1 overs.
A dream debut for Priya Punia followed South Africaâs innings. The 23-year-old started off slow but anchored the innings really well with Jemimah Rodrigues, who smashed a well-constructed half-century. When playing on eight, Punia was dropped by Kapp at short mid-wicket which proved to be fatal as Punia went on to score an unbeaten 75. South African debutant Shangase sent Jemimah back to the pavilion, after which Punam Raut's short stay was completed after de Klerk dismissed her for 16. Priya was quick to change gears and started scoring briskly. Mithali Raj, the skipper, joined Punia in the middle and the two of them saw the host to victory with eight wickets and 50 balls to spare.
