South Africa’s women posted their first win of the ongoing tour with a 12-run victory over India in Chennai’s opening T20I on Friday.
Tazmin Brits and Marizanne Kapp hammered half-centuries that set South Africa up for a challenging total of 189 for four. The bowlers then did it for Proteas.
A solid partnership between Brits and skipper Wolvaardt kickstarted South Africa’s innings.Brits’ scored an impressive 81 off 56 balls, while smashing 10 fours and six threes. Kapp weighed in heavily with her speedy 57 from just 33 deliveries. They got past fifty after a slow start on ball number forty-three.
Poor fielding by India led to their dropping Wolvaardt, Kapp, and Brits at different stages of the innings.
Due to missed fielding opportunities by India and a partnership between Brits and Kapp the team scored its highest ever total in T20Is against India. Dropping Wolvaardt on the fourth over, Kapp in the tenth over, and Brits on the sixteenth over resulted in that.
The lack of bounce on this pitch allowed South African batters to sweep shots effectively.
On the flip side, Indian openers started well. Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana had an opening stand of fifty-six which occupied only thirty-two balls as Verma made eighteen runs out fourteen before Ayabonga Khaka had her cleaned up in sixth over.
Mandhana continued to provide stability making 46 off 30 deliveries before Hemalatha Dayalan came in next who could manage only fourteen runs from seventeen balls
Mandhana was dismissed by Chloe Tryon at midwicket while trying to heave one into cow corner; she contributed seventeen runs whilst Hemalitha got bowled out by de Clerk next over.Skipping those long striking at a half century, Harmanpreet and Jemimah then smashed the fifty-run barrier in 38 balls, reducing the equation to 47 runs off the last 18 balls but Rodrigues played wonders with her knock of quick-fire fifty bringing up her eleventh T20I FIFTY in just twenty-nine DELIVERIES.
However, Mlaba bowled a tight over that went for only eight runs from it as India needed 21 runs off the final six balls.
During the match, there were also some injury concerns. S Sajana replaced Richa Ghosh as a concussion substitute because the latter fell face first attempting to catch a ball. The stretcher was use to remove Brits who has struck down by terrible cramps.
Two wickets each from Pooja and Radha in India’s bowling attack were decently economical with Pooja.
Nevertheless, their efforts were overshadowed by lapses on field made by them as well as South Africa’s dogged batting display
India put up a great fight; however, due to better overall execution from South Africa and Indian fielding errors they lost eventually.
