Sneh Rana, Rawal star as India thump South Africa by 15 runs in Women's Tri series
India women continued their victory run in the tri-nation series with a 15-run win over South Africa women on Tuesday, April 29 at R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo. After opting to bat first, India posted a good score of 276/6 in their 20 overs, riding on a splendid innings from Pratika Rawal of 78 (91). In reply, South Africa got bundled out for 261 in 49.2 overs as Sneh Rana picked up her maiden five-wicket haul (5/43) in ODIs.advertisementTazmin Brits' sensational hundred (109 off 107) ended in vain as rest of the batters failed to take South Africa over the line. As a result, India solidified their position at the top of the points table after earlier beating Sri Lanka by nine wickets in the first game.South Africa's chase got off to a stellar start as openers captain Laura Wolvaardt (43 off 75) and Tazmin Brits got involved in a massive 140-run stand for the first wicket off 168 balls. The duo started strong, bringing up their 50-run stand off just 42 deliveries and settled down afterwards, threatening to take the game away from India's grasp.
India-W vs South Africa-W tri-series Match 2 HighlightsJust when the game seemed to be running away from India, Deepti Sharma broke the partnership by dismissing Wolvaardt lbw. After getting the first strike, captain Harmanpreet Kaur brought Sneh Rana into the attack and the off-spinner didn't disappoint as she cleaned up Lara Goodall cheaply for 9 (11).advertisementWickets continued to tumble for the Proteas women as Sune Luus (28 off 34) and Chloe Tyron (18 off 22) failed to dig deep and fell prey to Arundhati Reddy and Nallapureddy Charani respectively.In the meantime, Tazmin Brits brought up her century off 103 deliveries but had to walk off the field on 108 after suffering from cramps.Being 236/4 after 45 overs, South Africa seemed to be cruising for a victory. However, Sneh Rana came to his team's rescue and spun a web around South Africa as the off-spinner ended up picking four wickets in her last two overs, out of which three came in her last, including the prized scalp of Brits. The over turned the game on its head as South Africa were eventually bundled out for 261, handing India a 15-run victory.Earlier in the day, Pratika Rawal and Smriti Mandhana got India off to a terrific start adding 83 runs for the first wicket off 111 balls. Their stand was broken by Annerie Dercksen, who got Mandhana strangled down the leg side for 36 (54).However, Rawal continued her brilliant form and brought up her fifth successive 50-plus score in ODIs, completing her half century in 58 balls. She was well supported by Harleen Deol (29 off 47), with the duo adding 68 runs for the second wicket off 73 balls.advertisementRawal looked set to bring up her second ODI hundred but was unfortunately cleaned up by Nonkululeko Mlaba on 78 (91). Following her dismissal, Harleen Deol also lost her stumps against Nonkululeko (2/55) in her next over, leaving India on 154/3 in 32.3 overs.After two quick blows, captain Harmanpreet Kaur (41* off 48) and Jemimah Rodrigues (41 off 32) stabilized the innings with their 59-run stand off 58 balls. Some late contributions from Richa Ghosh (24 off 14), Deepti Sharma (9 off 8) and Kashvee Gautam (5* off 6) took India's score to 276/6 in their 50 overs.
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