The Indian women’s team held onto their nerves to register a thrilling win in the 2nd One-day international on Wednesday in Bengaluru. After being asked to bat first by South African captain, Laura Woolvardt, Indian opening batters Shafali Varma and Smriti Mandhana began cautiously hitting bad deliveries for boundaries. The Indian openers added 38 runs laying a strong foundation.
Dayalan Hemalatha and Mandhana steadied the ship for the Indian team taking singles and hitting boundaries. South African fielding and catching put them under immense pressure. Hemalatha and Mandhana put on 62 runs for the 2nd wicket which kept India on course for a big total.
Mandhana showed intent on reaching her fifty-off 67 balls. Both experienced Indian players kept the momentum going with sixes and boundaries with ease. Mandhana made the batting easy, reaching her second successive century off 103 deliveries. Kaur returned to form with a half-century off 53 balls.
Both launched an assault on the South African bowlers. Mandhana’s brilliant innings ended on 136 including 18 fours and 2 sixes. Mandhana and Kaur added 171 runs for the 3rd wicket. Kaur completed her century off 87 balls in the last over which allowed India to post a massive total of 325 for 3. Kaur and Ghosh added an unbeaten 54 runs for the 4th wicket. For the South African team, Mlaba was the pick of the bowlers with 2 for 51 in 10 overs, Klass 1.
In reply, the South African team was in trouble with 67 for 3. The experienced pair of Laura Woolvardt and Marizanne Kapp showed some fight with positive intent not allowing the Indian bowlers to settle.
Both kept the momentum going for the visitors giving the Indian team a scare. Woolvardt completed fifty off 69 balls while Kapp reached the milestone off 53 deliveries. Deepti Sharma ended a sensational partnership of 184 runs dismissing Kapp for 114.
Laura Woolvardt led from the front with a well-compliant century off 85 balls. Pooja Vastkar held onto her nerves getting the big wicket of Nadine de Klerk ending 69 runs partnership. She kept calm not allowing Woolvardt to hit a boundary off the final delivery as the Indian women’s team won by 4 runs. Pooja Vastkar and Deepti Sharma took 2 wickets each for Women in Blue.
For her unbeaten 103, Harmanpreet Kaur was named the player of the match award. The Indian women’s team sealed the series with one match to spare.
Records Broken During the 2nd ODI between Indian Women and South African Women’s team:
- For the first time in WODI cricket, four players scored, which is the most tons in any ODI match.
- Smriti Mandhana equaled Mithali Raj’s record of most centuries by an Indian woman.
- The second ODI match in Bengaluru between Indian Women and South African women saw 15 sixes hit in women’s ODI surpassing 14 during Australia and New Zealand in 2012 at North Sydney.
- Indian Women and South African 2nd ODI on Wednesday saw second highest aggregate runs with 646 runs scored.
- Mandhana became the first Indian batter to score back-to-back centuries in women’s ODIs.
- The Indian women’s team hit a record of 8 sixes in the entire innings surpassing their previous best of 7.
- South Africa’s 321 for 6 is the highest by any team in a chase in women’s ODI. The previous best was South Africa’s 305 for 9 against England in 2017.
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