India Women v South Africa Women | Hosts keep series hopes alive with five wicket win

Brief Scores : India Women 133/10 (Harmanpreet Kaur 48, Smriti Mandhana 37; Shabnam Ismail 5/30, Masabata Klaas 2/20) lost to South Africa Women 134/5 (Sune Luus 41, Chloe Tyron 34; Pooja Vastrakar 2/21, Poonam Yadav 1/19) by 5 wickets.

With India reduced to 55/2 in the eighth over, rookie Jemimah Rodrigues stepped in. Letting Rodrigues take her time to settle, Kaur took up the job of accelerating the score. The Indian women were behind the expected run-rate and it could be seen in Kaur’s urgency who took on Raisibe Ntozakhe for three boundaries and a six in the eleventh over to put India in a strong position at 91/2. However, it was in the next over when all hell broke loose as both Kaur and Rodrigues gave away their wickets reducing to India 95/4 in virtually no time. It was an unsettled Veda Krishnamurthy and Anuja Patil on the crease next and the run rate fell quickly and dramatically. With Krishnamurthy holding strike at one end, wickets kept falling from the other end as Patil, Shikha Pandey, Tanya Bhatia, Pooja Vastrakar, Poonam Yadav and Rajeshwari Gayakwad, all returned to the dugout for single digits. However, thanks to Krishnamurthy’s patience 23-run knock amidst the flurry of dismissals, India ended their innings at 133.

With a realistic chance of getting back in the series up for grabs, the hosts were adamant not to repeat the same mistakes that they had made in the previous two games. However, the dangerous opening pair of Lizelle Lee and van Niekerk was broken in the third over itself as Vastrakar got had Lee caught at long-off by Patil. With South Africa women reduced to 12/1 in no time, Sune Luus came to the crease to stabilize the innings. However, skipper van Niekerk was in no mood to tone down her aggressive play and after hitting five boundaries in two overs but ended up throwing away her wicket to Gayakwad, reducing her side to 35/2. Mignon du Preez came in next in a desperate bid to save the series and the duo decided to take things slow with minimal risk. Though Luus was playing the role of the aggressor occasionally, the Proteas kept the run and ball ratio pretty much balanced as they brought up a 50-run partnership for the fourth wicket.

However, just as things were looking to go north of the hosts, Krishnamurthy struck for India taking a well-settled du Preez out of the equation and tilting the balance to India’s side. The sudden disruption broke Luus’ flow as well as she returned to the pavillion three overs later after making 41 runs, reducing the side to a good position of 111/4 in 17 overs. With less than 30 runs needed in 18 balls, Nadine de Klerk joined beside an already dangerous Chloe Tyron, who was connecting the ball well. And Klerk hardly had to do anything as Tyron brought the match entirely in South Africa’s hands with four boundaries and two sixes, before getting out in the 19th over. With just three needed of 10 balls, Marizanne Kapp and Klerk finished it in the 19th over.