Delhi: In the first match of the five-match T20 series played in Durban, South Africa women’s team made a great start by defeating the Indian women’s cricket team by 6 wickets. With this victory, the host team has taken a 1-0 lead in the series.

Contribution of the beginning and middle order of the Indian innings

Indian women’s team, who came to bat first after losing the toss, made a restrained start.

Opening pair Smriti Mandhana and Shefali Verma added 46 runs for the first wicket. Shefali Verma batted fast and scored 34 runs in 20 balls, but she was out in the last overs of the powerplay. Soon after this, Smriti Mandhana also returned to the pavilion, due to which India’s score became 2 wickets for 48 runs after 6 overs.

After this, Jemimah Rodrigues and captain Harmanpreet Kaur took over the innings and provided stability to the team. There was an important partnership between the two, which included a contribution of 71 runs.

Jemimah Rodrigues played a useful innings of 36 runs in 29 balls, but her wicket fell in the 15th over.

The Indian innings faltered in the last overs and the lower order batsmen including Richa Ghosh could not make a big contribution. However, Harmanpreet Kaur stood firm till the end and scored unbeaten 47 runs on 33 balls, taking the team to a respectable score of 157/7.

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Chasing the target of 158 runs, South Africa women’s team had a slow start and Sune Luus was out early, but after that captain Laura Wolvaardt batted brilliantly while handling the innings.

He put pressure on India by playing aggressive shots in the powerplay itself.

Laura Wolvaardt scored 51 runs in 39 balls and put the team in a strong position. Tajmin Brits also supported him, but his wicket fell after the powerplay.

After this, Anne Dirksen provided good support to the captain and there was an important partnership of 52 runs between the two. Despite Woolward’s dismissal, South Africa maintained the run pace and easily crossed the 100-run mark.

The Indian bowlers tried to make a comeback and dragged the match till the last over, but Chloe Tryon’s six in the last over ended the match.

South Africa achieved the target by losing 4 wickets in 19.1 overs.

Ayabonga Khaka’s brilliant performance in bowling

For South Africa, Ayabonga Khaka bowled brilliantly and took 3 wickets for just 16 runs and curbed India’s run rate. At the same time, Indian bowler Shreyanka Patil took 2 wickets.

Now the second T20 match of the series will be played on the same ground on Sunday, where the Indian team will try to make a comeback.