24 March,2021 06:02 AM IST | Lucknow | Santosh Suri
Shafali Verma. Pic/PTI
It was the type of performance the Indian women's team were expected to display right through the white-ball series against South Africa. Unluckily, it came only in the final game. On Tuesday, the hosts outplayed the visitors by nine wickets to salvage some pride after having lost the first two T20I matches. Despite the defeat in the last game of the series, South Africa can return home with satisfaction, having won the ODI series 4-1 and the T20I 2-1.
After opting to field, the Indian bowlers were spot on as they allowed South Africa just 112-7 in their 20 overs, with Rajeshwari Gayakwad being the pick of the bowlers with 3-9. The Indian openers, skipper Smirti Mandhana and young Shafali Verma batted without much pressure and thrashed the South African bowling to all parts of the field.
The 17-year-old Shafali undoubtedly is the new generation kid with attacking instincts. Her fluent batting left South Africa with no chance of even making a match out of it.
Come pace or spin, she was destructive as she raced away to 60 runs in just 30 balls with seven fours and five sixes before being caught on the boundary.
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Her 96-run stand with Mandhana virtually sealed the chase. After her departure, Smirti (48 not out) and Harleen Deol completed the formalities.
However, the most positive aspect for India was that their bowling finally clicked. The spinners, led by Gayakwad, were back at their best, maintaining good line and length. Deepti Sharma and Radha Yadav provided adequate support. For South Africa, only their skipper Sune Luus (28) and Lara Goodall (24 not out) were the only ones to put up a semblance of fight.
In the end, the Indian team as well as the handful of supporters at the Atal Behari stadium, finally had something to cheer about with smiles on their faces.
Brief scores
South Africa 112-7 (S Luus 28; R Gayakwad 3-9) lost to India 114-1 in 11 overs (S Verma 60, S Mandhana 48') by nine wickets
