Good evening and welcome, everyone! We are building up to the start of the third women's T20I between India and South Africa. Stay with us for the toss, playing XIs and live updates.
Good evening and welcome, everyone! We are building up to the start of the third women's T20I between India and South Africa. Stay with us for the toss, playing XIs and live updates.
Not the best news at the outset, as the Wanderers Stadium is covered amid lightning before the toss. We wait for the weather to improve, and for an updated toss timing.
India Women: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Anushka Sharma, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, Kranti Gaud, Shree Charani, Bharti Fulmali, Uma Chetry, Kashvee Gautam, Renuka Singh Thakur
South Africa Women: Laura Wolvaardt (c), Sune Luus, Tazmin Brits, Annerie Dercksen, Anneke Bosch, Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Sinalo Jafta (wk), Ayabonga Khaka, Tumi Sekhukhune, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Ayanda Hlubi, Kayla Reyneke, Tebogo Macheke, Eliz-mari Marx
The covers are off, and the players have entered the ground for warm-ups. News is coming in that the toss will be held at 9:45pm IST, and the first ball will be bowled at 10pm IST.
South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt has won the toss and decided, unsurprisingly, to bowl first. Harmanpreet Kaur says she would have "definitely" bowled first as well, given the overcast conditions.
India Women: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Bharti Fulmali, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Kashvee Gautam, Shreyanka Patil, Kranti Gaud, Arundhati Reddy
South Africa Women: Laura Wolvaardt (c), Sune Luus, Tazmin Brits, Annerie Dercksen, Kayla Reyneke, Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Sinalo Jafta (wk), Ayanda Hlubi, Tumi Sekhukhune, Nonkululeko Mlaba
India's trusted opening pair of Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana arrives at the crease. Ayanda Hlubi takes the new ball for South Africa and Mandhana slashes her to the fence with a thickish outside edge first ball, before a delightful cover drive off the third. Mandhana and India are away!
IND-W: 10/0 (1)
India go through the powerplay without losing a wicket. What's more, they end it with a four as Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma bring up the 50 runs in their unbroken partnership. This is the first time in the series that either of these batters has stayed unbeaten after the first six overs. Now for them to kick on!
IND-W: 51/0 (6)
Nonkululeko Mlaba gets rid of the rampaging Smriti Mandhana (37 off 25) and new batter Jemimah Rodrigues off back-to-back deliveries to peg India back. But Shafali Verma looks to counterattack, helping take 14 runs frm Nadine de Klerk's first over. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur has joined Verma, meanwhile.
IND-W: 82/2 (10)
Shafali Verma slams a 36-ball fifty! The hard-hitting right hander keeps India's hopes alive with a responsible knock under pressure. Skipper Harmanpreet joins the party, teeing off as she gets conversant with the conditions. South Africa now on the backfoot as India target a total in excess of 185.
IND-W: 138/2 (15)
What a late blitz from Harmanpreet! The India skipper totally cuts loose after Shafali Verma is dismissed for a 46-ball 64. Kaur gets to her fifty off 33 balls and hits 14 off her next five to take the visitors to a challenging 192-run total. They now have the runs on the board; can the bowlers rise to the occasion?
IND-W: 192/4 (20)
Renuka Singh takes the new ball for India in their defence of a healthy 193-run target. Proteas captain Laura Wolvaardt and Sune Luus walk out to open the batting. Renuka starts with a loosener, a short and wide ball dispatched to the midwicket fence. She also sends down a couple of wides to end a wayward first over.
RSA-W: 9/0 (1)
Carnage from Wolvaardt (56 not out off 25)! The South Africa batting mainstay races away to a 23-ball fifty, her fastest in T20 internationals. Luus (9 not out off 11) is reduced to a spectator alongside the Indian bowling and fielding as a whopping 72 runs come in the powerplay. The Women In Blue have themselves to blame, once again with some loose bowling and poor catching.
RSA-W: 72/0 (6)
Wolvaardt continues to go from strength to strength, and Luus joins the party as India fail to break their century-plus partnership in the first 10 overs. What was looking like a challenging total will most likely be overhauled in a canter by the hosts.
RSA-W: 115/0 (10)
This is getting embarrassingly out of hand for India. It's an exhibition from Wolvaardt, make no mistake. The global batting star has sped to the fastest hundred in T20 internationals for South Africa, off 47 balls. But the visitors have been positively sloppy in the field with dropped catches and misfields piling up. A series defeat looms.
RSA-W: 179/0 (15)
Sealed with a six! Sane Luus deposits Deepti Sharma over midwicket to finish the job in emphatic style for South Africa. India's 193-run target is chased down in 16.3 overs, with Wolvaardt (115 off 53) being the only batter dismissed. A lacklustre India lose the series with two matches still to come.
RSA-W: 193-1 (16.3)
Tags