Image Credit- BCCI
South Africa started their journey to the women’s T20 World Cup with a confidence-boosting victory over India in the opening T20I in Chennai, following losses in the ODI series and the one-off Test.
In the third over, Laura Wolvaardt came out swinging and took Renuka Singh for sixteen runs. However, South Africa was unable to capitalise on that since the British were now having difficulty hitting the ball off the square.
The Brits needed ten deliveries to hit the target, and Wolvaardt was forced to take more chances than she would have wanted due to the mounting dots. She was brought down by one such move, which involved crossing to reveal all three stumps in an attempt to sweep left-arm spinner Radha Yadav into acres of open space, leading to her dismissal in the eighth over to leave South Africa 50 for 1.
Kapp started off by hitting two fours off of her first three balls, the first of which was an especially lovely inside-out drive over extra cover. However, she was also quite fortunate to receive two reprieves in the tenth over.
When Kapp was on 11, Richa Ghosh first failed to hold on to a catch behind the wickets. Then, with the South African all-rounder on 11, Mandhana made a difficult run in from long off. After she had hobbled to a run-a-ball 25, this helped unleash Kapp, which eased the burden on the British players.
In the eleventh over, the British broke free as she lifted legspinner S Asha over the long-on boundary. The Brits didn’t find their best form until the 17th over of the innings, when she struck two consecutive sixes from Radha to counteract any pressure following Kapp’s wicket in that same over. South Africa had a lot of momentum going into the break after racking up 58 runs in the final five overs.
India reached their half-century mark in the fifth over thanks to a cameo from Mandhana, but Ayabonga Khaka’s nick of Shafali Verma gave India the victory back. Things moved quite slowly after that wicket because D Hemalatha, India’s third-best player, was unable to handle the pressure of the asking rate. At the halfway point, she hobbled to 14 off 16.
Mandhana may have fallen victim to this since she broke her crease against Chloe Tryon and was taken off guard. South Africa saw an opportunity when Hemalatha was bowled off the very next delivery while attempting to clip Nadine de Klerk, as India was only 87 for 3 in the eleventh over.
Rodrigues persisted in his punching, deftly manipulating the bowlers at the crease to score runs behind square against spin. Harmanpreet’s battle with cramping appeared to limit her hitting range, but her initiative made up for it. However, India was convinced when she engaged in a fierce battle for a boundary, reducing the equation to 17 off 5. It was not to be, though, as South Africa persevered to win the game and complete their historic victory.