Building on Nadine de Klerk’s career-best knock, South Africa beat India on Thursday (October 9) by three wickets at the Dr. YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam.
The defeat ends India’s victorious start in the ongoing World Cup. The Women in Blue began their campaign with back-to-back wins before suffering a defeat against South Africa. With two wins from three matches, India are currently third in the points table and will next face top-ranked Australia.
India’s top and middle orders revealed
South Africa, meanwhile, is in fourth place with two wins in three matches. They began their campaign with a 10-wicket loss to England before bouncing back with impressive wins over New Zealand and India.
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For the third consecutive match, India faced a batting collapse and were reeling at 102/6. The home side were 83/1 at one stage before Harleen Deol’s dismissal in the 17th over triggered a collapse. India then lost five wickets in just 19 runs to find themselves firmly on the back foot.
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Richa Ghosh then took charge of the innings and scored a brilliant 94 to propel her team to a competitive total of 251 runs. His knock came off just 77 balls and was studded with 11 fours and 4 sixes.
Richa and Amanjot Kaur steadied the ship by adding 51 runs for the seventh wicket before the latter departed for 13. This was followed by an 88-run stand between Richa and Sneh Rana for the eighth wicket. Richa looked destined to complete a stunning century, but lost her wicket on the fourth ball of the final over.
For South Africa, Chloe Tryon took 3 wickets while Marizanne Kapp, de Klerk and Nonkululeko Mlaba took two each.
Nadine de Klerk brings South Africa home:
After 252 runs, South Africa lost wickets at regular intervals early on and were reeling at 81/5 in the 20th over. Their chances of winning the match looked as good as they had at this stage, but captain Laura Wolvaardt kept her team in the competition with a fine 70-point haul.
She and Tryon revived South Africa’s hopes with a 61-run score for the sixth wicket before Kanti Gaud dismissed the South African captain to put India in control. However, the wicket did not bring any respite to India as de Klerk did not let them take advantage of the breakthrough.
She and Tryon turned the game around by adding 69 runs for the seventh wicket. Sneh Rana completed the stand by dismissing Tryon for 49, but de Klerk stayed on till the end and scored an unbeaten 84 off just 54 balls to take her team home in 49 overs. His knock was studded with 8 fours and 5 sixes.
Brief scores of India vs South Africa:
India 251 (49.5 overs): Richa Ghosh 94 (77); Chloe Tryon 3-32
South Africa 252-7 (48.5 overs): Nadin le Cleck 84* (54), Laura Wolbres 70 (111)
South Africa won by three wickets
