South Africa Women created history at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow by winning their maiden T20 International series on Indian soil. After posting 158/4, India were in control until the last two balls of the match. South Africa needed six at that stage, but a head-high full-toss from Arundhati Reddy resulted in a no-ball, followed by a free hit. That decided the fate of the match. South Africa won off the last ball.
Lizelle Lee continued her wonderful tour with another emphatic performance in a tricky chase. She hit 11 fours and a six in her 45-ball 70. Wolvaardt, her ODI opening partner, provided the finishing touch by remaining unbeaten on 53 off 39 balls, her third T20I fifty. She was adjudged Player of the Match.
South Africa had lost Anneke Bosch in the second over, to Rajeshwari Gayakwad. Sune Luus (20) helped Lee add 58 before she was run out to an outstanding combined effort. Jemimah Rodrigues slid to stop the ball and relayed it to Deepti Sharma, who threw down the stumps with a direct hit to catch Luus napping.
That brought Wolvaardt to the crease. Lee and Woolvaardt added 50 in 35 balls to take South Africa closer to victory. Lee continued to dominate the Indian attack before miscuing one off Radha Yadav. Mignon du Preez holed out to long-on off Harleen Deol. But Wolvaardt held the fort to guide South Africa to a series win.
The Indians were lacklustre on the field. Both Lee and Woolvaardt benefited from dropped chances. Lee was dropped by Richa Ghosh twice, on 30 and 60, while Woolvaardt was dropped early in her innings by Gayakwad. Gayakwad, Deol, and Radha Yadav picked up a wicket each.
Earlier, Luus won the toss and decided to chase again as South Africa retained their XI from the first match. India replaced Poonam Yadav with Radha. With Harmanpreet Kaur yet to recover from her injury, Smriti Mandhana led India again.
Seventeen-year-old Shafali Verma launched an early onslaught, hitting cleanly to post a 31-ball 47. Her innings included six fours and two sixes, one of them long enough to clear most grounds. She and Deol added 79 runs for the second wicket after Mandhana fell cheaply. After a fifty in the last match, Harleen scored a run-a-ball 31 with four fours.
The Indian innings was pegged back when both Verma and Harleen were dismissed within seven runs and 12 balls. This brought Rodrigues and Ghosh to the crease. Ghosh hit the first ball she faced for four, survived a stumping off the second, then hit fours off the next two balls – all off Luus. In all she blasted eight fours in a career-best score of 44 not out off 26 deliveries. Unfortunately, Rodrigues and Sharma, her partners at the other end, managed 23 in 23 balls at the other end.
While the senior South African bowlers, Shabnim Ismail, Nonkululeko Mlaba, and Ayabonga Khaka did a decent job in the absence of Dane van Niekerk and Masabata Klaas, their all-rounders looked vulnerable whenever the Indians went on rampage. That is something they may want to look into. The inclusion of Marizanne Kapp may help fill that void.
South Africa have now taken an unassailable 2-0 lead to the series and will look to experiment in the last game at the same ground on 23 March.
Brief scores
India Women 158/4 in 20 overs (Shafali Verma 47, Richa Ghosh 44*; Anneke Bosch 1-26) lost to South Africa Women 159/4 in 20 overs (Lizelle Lee 70, Laura Wolvaardt 53*; Rajeshwari Gayakwad 1-20) beat by 6 wickets with 0 balls to spare. Player of the Match: Laura Wolvaardt.