Punam Raut’s century in vain as South Africa beat India eves for unassailable 3-1 lead

India’s Punam Raut during her 104 not out yesterday

The South African batters once again dominated the Indian bowling to register a clinical seven-wicket win in the fourth game and take an unbeatable 3-1 lead in the ODI series with the last match to be played on Wednesday.

Despite notching up 266/4 after being asked to bat first, the home bowlers could not stop the rampaging South African top order, who went on to record their highest run-chase in ODIs with eight balls to spare.

It seemed India had enough on the board, thanks to a fine unbeaten ton by Punam Raut (104 not out) and a hard-hitting 54 off just 35 balls by Harmanpreet Kaur. But India were without their bowling mainstay Jhulan Goswami, out due to a hand injury and that left the bowling toothless on a rather flat pitch at the Atal Behari Stadium.

In-form openers Lizelle Lee (69) and Laura Wolvaardt (53) gave SA a commanding start of 116. After their departure Lara Goodall (59 not out) and Mignon du Preez (61 of 55 balls) put on 103 for the third, wicket which set the team on the path to victory. This was South Africa's third series win out of five bilateral ODI series between the two countries.

Meanwile, after completing 10,000 international runs in the previous match, skipper Mithali Raj became the first batter in women's cricket to notch up 7,000 runs in ODIs during a well-complied 45.

Mithali felt her bowlers lacked necessary preparation going into the series after a gap of one year. "Our bowling department needed to work on their preparation. We lacked that. We are not a bad fielding side but there are things we can improve on. We missed Jhulan's experience but it was an opportunity for the other bowlers to step up and take responsibility. However, our spin department is experienced. And I expect them to come back stronger."

Brief scores
India W 266-4 in 50 overs ( P Raut 104 not out, H Kaur 54, M Raj 45) lost to Southa Africa W 269-3 in 48.4 overs (L Lee 69, M du Preez 61, L Goodall 59, L Wolvaardt 53) by 7 wickets