South African women defeated India by 5 wickets in the 3rd T20I played at Wanders Stadium, Johannesburg. Dan Van Niekerk won the toss and elected to field. Despite India getting off to a good start, hosts bowlers made a great comeback dismissing the visitors for 133. Chasing 134, it was great batting display and South Africa won registered their first win.
South African women captain Dan Van Niekerk won the toss and elected to field. Mithali Raj was dismissed in the very first over itself. Smriti Mandhana put the pressure on South African bowling attack with attacking strokeplay. At the end of six overs, India scored 49 runs for 1.
After the powerplay overs, South African captain Dan Van Niekerk dismissed Smriti Mandhana for 37. Indian team captain Harmanpreet Kaur then took the charge of attacking stroke play and making the batting look easy. The 3rd wicket partnership of Kaur and Rodrigues added 38 runs. From 93 to 3, Indian women’s team lost wickets at regular intervals, were bowled out for 133 in 17.5 overs. S Ismail was the pick of bowlers for South Africa taking 5 for 30.
Chasing 134, South African women too lost an early wicket of L Lee for 5 at the score of 12. Captain Dan Van Niekerk and S Luus played with good intent adding 22 runs before Van Niekerk was dismissed for 26. At the end of six overs, South Africa made 35 for 2. S Luus and M du Preez took singles, also hit bad balls away for boundaries. Both of them added 50 runs for the 3rd wicket.
Tyron came to the crease and took on the Indian bowlers. With 23 runs required, Vastrakar dismissed S Luus for 41 runs. C Tryon played a blinder of an innings scoring 34 off 15 balls and was dismissed with 3 runs needed. South African women won the match by 5 wickets with 1 over to spare.
South African women 134 for 5 in 19 overs ( S Luus 41, CL Tyron 34, Vastrakar 2/21, Poonam Yadav 1/19) beat
Indian women 133 in 17.5 overs ( Harmanpreet Kaur 48, Smriti Mandhana 37, S Ismail 5/30) by 5 wickets.
Indian women still have a 2-1 lead in the 5 match T20I series. The fourth match will be played at Centurion on 21st Feb.
