India Women registered a consolation nine-wicket victory in the final T20I match against South Africa Women at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow. Having already lost the series, India had little to play for but pride. They cruised to a comfortable win thanks to the brilliant bowling led by Rajeshwari Gaikwad and an emphatic opening stand between Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana.
Chasing 113 was never going to pose a challenge for India, even in the absence of Harmanpreet Kaur. Seventeen-year-old Shafali Verma was once again on fire, slamming 60 in 30 balls with seven fours and five sixes. Her scores in the first two matches, 23 in 22 balls and 47 in 31, had already taken her to the top of the ICC rankings for the second time in her 18-month career. She stretched her lead even more today.
Verma played clean, powerful strokes, mostly down the ground. India scored 18 runs in the first over of their chase, thanks to Shafali, who hit the first two balls off Shabnim Ismail for four and six, and finished the over with two fours. She soon raced to 40 off just 19 balls, leaving Mandhana behind, on 3.
Mandhana, out of form, started to open up in the fifth over, starting to hit the South African bowlers all over the ground. Her unbeaten 48 came in 28 balls as she kept finding at the gaps with nonchalant ease. She hit nine boundaries in all.
It took only 11 overs for the Indians to chase the total down. By the time Nondumiso Shangase got Verma in the ninth over, the fate of the match had been decided.
Earlier in the day Mandhana decided to field first after winning the toss. There was no surprise in that, as all seven matches on the tour across formats have been won by the chasing team at the venue. South Africa included Faye Tunnicliffe for Mignon du Preez. They also replaced Ayabonga Khaka and Nonkululeko Mlaba with Tumi Sekhukhune and Nondumiso Shangase.
Lizelle Lee started with a boundary second ball, but the Indians soon regained control of the match. Gayakwad dismissed Anneke Bosch in the second over. Tunnicliffe failed to accelerate. The pressure of the dot balls got to Lee, who perished against an arm ball from Gayakwad.
South Africa crawled to 15/2 in six overs. A struggling Tunnicliffe had taken 18 balls for her 3 runs at this point. Radha Yadav stretched her wicket-every-match streak by removing Laura Woolvaardt in her first over. Tunnicliffe then became Simran Bahadur’s first international wicket for a 35-ball 18.
The wicket turned out to be a blessing in disguise, for South Africa gained momentum. Sune Luus (28 in 25 balls), Lara Goodall (25* in 17), and Sinalo Jafta (16 in 9) pushed the score to 112/7. For India, Gayakwad finished with 3-9 in her four overs and claimed the Player-of-the-Match award, while four other bowlers finished with one wicket each.
Brief scores:
South Africa Women 112/7 in 20 overs (Sune Luus 28; Rajeshwari Gayakwad 3-9) lost to India Women 114/1 in 11 overs (Shafali Verma 60, Smriti Mandhana 48*; Nondumiso Shangase 1-18) by 9 wickets with 54 balls to spare. Player of the Match: Rajeshwari Gayakwad.
South Africa Women won the series 2-1. Player of the Series: Shafali Verma.