Proteas seal series as Indians falter

South African women eased to a four-wicket win over their Indian counterparts to take the three-match ODI series 2-1 here at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday.

After restricting India, who were invited to bat first, to a modest 180 in 47.3 overs, the visitors romped home with two overs to spare.

South Africa did get into early trouble at 13/2 after Jhulan Goswami sent back both the openers but solid contributions from the middle-order guided them home. After Nadine Moodley (54, 90b, 7x4) and Mignon du Preez (46, 59b, 6x4) steadied the visitors with a useful 108-run stand, debutant Deepti Sharma (2/35) struck to remove the duo in one over.

The visitors made it tough for themselves by losing two more wickets but unlike their male counterparts the eves kept their heads under pressure. Earlier, India, who began their innings after a one minute silence for the departed Phil Hughes, started in bizarre fashion. The first 66 balls yielded just nine runs – two boundaries and a single – with Poonam Raut (16, 54b, 3x4) testing everyone’s patience by taking 35 balls to get off the mark.

Ayabonga Khaka, whose first five overs were all maidens, completely choked the runs up from one end. Soon pressure increased and patience wore off as the hosts slipped to 40/3 before a 67-run fourth wicket partnership between Shikha Pandey (59, 59b, 9x4, 1x6) and skipper Mithali Raj (23, 35b, 3x4) supplied the innings with the nutrition it needed. Shikha was again at the forefront as she put the rival spinners on the back foot from the word go. She lofted and drove with gay abandon and it looked like they were on course for a competitive total before Sunette Loubser (3/28) removed Shikha.

Harmanpreet Kaur (42, 39b, 5x4, 1x6) then went on the offensive to take the hosts past the 175-run mark. Just when it looked like they would cross 200, Loubser and Marcia (3/46) accounted for the last four wickets for just four runs.

As it turned out, the collapse came back to haunt India, who have the chance to redeem themselves in the one-off T20I against the same opposition on Sunday.

Scoreboard
INDIA: Smriti Mandhana c Trisha b Kapp 8, Poonam Raut st Trisha b Van Niekerk 16, Deepti Sharma (run out) 1, Shikha Pandey c Van Niekerk b Loubser 59, Mithali Raj st Trisha b Fourie 23, Harmanpreet Kaur c Trisha b Loubser 42, Vanitha VR c Trisha b Letsoalo 13, Jhulan Goswami c and b Letsoalo 12, Sushma Verma c Lizelle b Loubser 0, Ekta Bisht (not out) 4, Shubhlakshmi Sharma c Loubser b Letsoalo 0. Extras (W-2) 2. Total (all out, 47.3 overs) 180.

Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Mandhana), 2-9 (Deepti), 3-40 (Raut), 4-107 (Mithali), 5-109 (Shikha), 6-151 (Vanitha), 7-176 (Harmanpreet), 8-176 (Jhulan), 9-180 (Sushma).
Bowling: Marizanne 8-3-28-1, Ayabonga  9-5-19-0, Marcia 9.3-0-46-3, Lizelle 1-0-10-0, Dane van Niekerk 8-1-35-1, Sunette 8-1-28-3, Yolani 4-0-14-1.
SOUTH AFRICA: Lizelle Lee b Goswami 0, Trisha Chetty b Goswami 9, Nadine Moodley c and b Deepti 54, Mignon du Preez b Deepti 46, Marizanne Kapp (run out) 14, Dane van Niekerk (not out) 20, Nonkululeko Thabethe b Bisht 0, Sunette Loubser (not out) 23. Extras (W-8, LB-6, B-4) 18. Total (for six wkts, 48 overs) 184.
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Lee), 2-13 (Goswami), 3-121 (Moodley), 4-122 (Du Preez), 5-146 (Kapp), 6-148 (Thabethe).
Bowling: Goswami 10-1-27-2, Shubhlakshmi 9-0-42-0, Shikha 4-0-21-0, Ekta 10-1-22-1, Deepti 10-0-35-2, Harmanpreet
5-0-27-0.