Image credit- BCCI
In Chennai on Tuesday, South Africa’s hard all-format tour came to a hesitant end after two thrilling T20I batting efforts.
The visitors crumbled for 84 to all but give up the game halfway through on the same surface where they made 189 and 177.
After India decided to field, Laura Wolvaardt and Marizanne Kapp were out early, attempting to create strokes in the powerplay. However, Tazmin Brits, who had just scored two fifties in a row, seemed to have settled down and picked up the tempo when she hit two boundaries off Shreyanka Patil in the sixth over. However, she overreached herself and was caught brilliantly by Harmapreet Kaur at mid-off.
If Deepti had held onto a return opportunity given by Chloe Tryon, two balls after the Brits were out of the game, she may have taken a second wicket. Eventually, a few overs later, Arundhati Reddy would win the head-to-head with a hard-length delivery that Tryon skewed to point.
With a game-changing over that saw South Africa go from 57 for 3 in 10 overs to 61 for 5 in 11 overs, Vastrakar made her mark on the match. As Anneke Bosch moved over, she caught her with a length ball that zoomed in to trap in her front. After getting threaded behind point for a boundary off the previous delivery, it was a great comeback. Vastrakar got Nadine de Klerk to chop on with a longer delivery two balls later.
South Africa lost 7 for 23 overall, folding for 84 in the eighteenth over. Radha Yadav’s double-wicket maiden in the 17th over, which brought the end prematurely, saw her finish with 3 for 6 in her three overs.
There was no pressure of any kind on the openers throughout India’s innings. Mandhana deserves a lot of credit for this, as she maintained her brilliant form while hitting some of the most visually appealing hit-through-the-line batting.
On the opposite side, Shafali shown hints of her most dominant form as she ruthlessly dragged the seamen in front of square, playing her signature shovels and slaps without any opposition. Nothing could have been simpler.