Pooja Vastrakar of India spoiled what was a simple catch for her during the fourth day of the one-off Test match against South Africa at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Monday.
On the 153rd ball of their second innings, Pooja missed an easy opportunity to dismiss Nadine de Klerk at mid-off as she dropped a very catchable chance off Rajeshwari Gayakwad.
A fuller delivery forced Nadine to try cross-bat shots which resulted in a top edge that flew towards mid-off. The girl from India who was positioned at mid-off initially clasped it but faltered twice before dropping it eventually. Renuka also rushed towards Pooja in an effort to catch the dropped ball but also failed to grab it.
The opener Shafali Verma broke records with a scintillating double century and Sneh Rana’s splendid bowling display helped India clinch a resounding ten-wicket win. Shafali Verma’s blistering 197-ball double-century and Sneh Rana’s impressive first-innings figures of 8/77 were pivotal in the match.
India batted once scoring 603/6 before declaring with Shafali accounting for 205 while Smriti Mandhana contributed 149. The visitors had been bowled out by some best career figures from Rana making them all slabbed down to 266 only.
South Africa followed up after India made them bat again whereby they needed another three hundred thirty-seven runs to avoid an inning defeat. Despite Laura Wolvaardt (captain)’s brave efforts being complemented by former skipper Sune Luus’ (109) and de Klerk’s (61), South Africa scored 373 runs thereby setting up India with only thirty seven points left to chase after.
Shubha Satheesh, not out on thirteen, and Shafali Verma, twenty-four not out, reached the target in 9.2 overs and sealed the win for India.
