Smriti Mandhana spearheaded India’s 3-0 ODI series victory over South Africa, capping up her straight hundreds with a blazing ninety. The team won the third and final match at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium with ease, taking six wickets. India’s bowling resurgence, spearheaded by Arundhati Reddy, ended South Africa’s promising start, limiting them to just 215/8. With 9.2 overs remaining, Mandhana secured an easy victory by capitalising on the visitors’ careless bowling under the lights and combining it with impeccable stroke play around the ground.
Even with a 0-2 deficit, South Africa had two significant ICC Women’s ODI Championship points to go for on Sunday, June 23. However, their top and middle order collapsed due to miscommunication and return favours, but not before the openers had put up a strong fight against the hosts for nearly 20 overs and a century stand.
Captain Laura Wolvaardt showed off her whole repertoire of strokes as she unleashed a hat-trick of boundaries against Pooja Vastrakar, first one down the ground and then one on either side of the strip, following a cautious start to get her eye in. It was a costly 17-run final over to powerplay, of which South Africa scored 46 without losing, thanks to a pull through backward square leg for a fourth boundary.
Tazmin Brits, who was playing the second violin, eventually relaxed her arms by giving Radha Yadav the lead and hitting a six into the corner. In just 45 deliveries, Wolvaardt achieved her 32nd ODI fifty at the conclusion of the over, her sixth against India. Shortly after, she made a century opening stand, but Arundhati’s outstanding return take at knee height proved to be the undoing of the South African captain, who had been enticed into an aggressive drive. British lost the next over, with Marizanne Kapp causing a disastrous communication breakdown that resulted in a run-out on 38. The first baseman lined up for a single, without looking at the ball or her ball-watching companion Kapp, who remained still.
Once more in her follow-through, Arundhati produced an even better, even lower blinder that sent Anneke Bosch back cheaply for her second wicket of the period. On the other end, Shreyanka Patil, who had replaced legspinner Asha Sobhana in the XI, made a quick switch to the round-the-stakes angle against Kapp and was rewarded right away. She forced the match’s centurion to drive the ball with more length and held on to a superb return catch when the batter took the bait.
The visitors had just started to rally following Vastrakar’s stunning 4 for 18 collapse that left Sune Luus soaked after drinking. South Africa had crept down to just 171 at the beginning of the death-overs phase, having reached the team’s 100 at the beginning of the 20th. But another breakdown in communication caused the short-lived alliance between Nondumiso Shangase and Nadine de Klerk to collapse. De Klerk drove one to mid-off, then went for a tight single, her partner showing little interest. She only grudgingly left the crease when Richa Ghosh caught Deepti’s toss and knocked the bails over, at the non-striker’s end. Deepti finished her stingy session of 2 for 27 when she successively removed the stumps of de Klerk and Nonkululeko Mlaba in the next over. There was no space for late pyrotechnics because of the two new batsmen in the middle, but Vastrakar’s costly last over (worth 14) did enable the ninth-wicket combo to push South Africa to a respectable 215 thanks to their crucial 37-run partnership.
India’s chase was delayed by a mizzle, but the home team’s openers did not waste any time after that. Shafali Verma, who was looking to make her ODI comeback, got things starting with two clean drives on the off-side from South Africa’s new-ball duo. The in-form Mandhana then followed suit, hitting a hat-trick of fours off de Klerk’s third over. A double bowling change was made, but the opening duo continued to climb the half-century mark in nine overs by fetching a boundary per over. In an effort to play an aerial cut against the flow of the play, Verma wasted a strong start by slicing a flat, low catch to backward point.
With minimal assistance on the opposite end, Mlaba managed to find some turn and control the runs. She did give Mandhana and Priya Punia a boundary apiece, but she ended the 10-run over with a maiden. Mandhana scored a lot again, but her best moments came when she glided down the track to Shangase, reaching her half-century in just 49 deliveries. Her drive and exquisite timing were the highlights of her performance. Punia demonstrated her intent from ball one on the national return as well, combining with her vice captain to stand for fifty runs. Unfortunately, her cameo ended in a manner akin to Verma’s – an attempted cut that again offered Bosch a low grab at a backward position.
Once more, Captain Harmanpreet was Mandhana’s second fiddle. He made a quick 19 in their 48-run partnership but was content to give up the strike as Mandhana got closer to an extraordinary achievement that ultimately fell short of expectations. The vice captain of India, who was dropped at 85, did manage to set a record for most runs in a three-match bilateral ODI series for women when she reached 90 with a total of 343; however, in an attempt to complete a sweep, she top-edged a ball from Mlaba, narrowly missing a rare hat-trick of hundreds.
From that point on, India needed just 45 more runs off the 19.2 remaining overs, and Harmanpreet and Jemimah Rodrigues combined to guarantee that the intensity never dropped. Richa Ghosh hit a third-ball six to put her team over the boundary, while Harmanpreet fell on 42 while attempting a fast single that would have tied the score.
Brief scores: India 220/4 in 40.4 overs (Smriti Mandhana 90, Harmanpreet Kaur 42, Ayabonga Khaka 1-38) defeated South Africa 215/8 in 50 overs (Laura Wolvaardt 61, Tazmin Brits 38; Deepti Sharma 2-27, Arundhati Reddy 2-35) by 6 wickets.
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