Nadine de Klerk scored a career-best innings as South Africa defeated India by three wickets at the Dr. YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Thursday (October 9).
With this defeat, India’s winning start in the current World Cup has ended. The Blue Women started their campaign with consecutive wins before suffering a defeat against South Africa. With two wins from three matches, India are currently placed third on the points table and will next face table topper Australia.
India’s top and middle order exposed
On the other hand, South Africa are in fourth place with two wins from three matches. They started their campaign with a 10-wicket defeat against England before bouncing back with impressive wins over New Zealand and India.
For the third consecutive match, India suffered a batting collapse and were reduced to 102/6. The home team was at one point 83/1 before Harleen Deol’s dismissal in the 17th over led to the team’s collapse. India lost five wickets for only 19 runs and found themselves on the back foot.
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After this, Richa Ghosh took over the innings and scored a brilliant 94 runs to take her team to a competitive score of 251 runs. His innings came off just 77 balls and included 11 fours and 4 sixes.
Richa and Amanjot Kaur took control of the situation by adding 51 runs for the seventh wicket, but Aman was out for 13 runs. After this, there was a partnership of 88 runs between Richa and Sneh Rana for the eighth wicket. It seemed that Richa would complete a brilliant century but she lost her wicket on the fourth ball of the last over.
For South Africa, Chloe Tryon took 3 wickets, while Marizanne Kapp, De Klerk and Nonkululeko Mlaba took two wickets each.
Nadine de Klerk takes home South Africa:
Chasing 252 runs, South Africa lost wickets at regular intervals from the start and their score was 81/5 in the 20th over. At that time their chances of winning the match were almost over, but captain Laura Wolvaardt kept her team in the match by playing a brilliant inning of 70 runs.
He and Tryon revived South Africa’s hopes with a 61-run partnership for the sixth wicket, before Kranti Goud put India in the driver’s seat by dismissing the South African captain. However, the wicket did not provide any respite to India as De Klerk did not allow them to capitalize on the success.
He and Tryon turned the game around by adding 69 runs for the seventh wicket. Sneh Rana ended the stand by dismissing Tryon for 49, but De Klerk hung on till the end and scored an unbeaten 84 off just 54 balls to give his team victory inside 49 overs. His innings included 8 fours and 5 sixes.
India vs South Africa Brief Score:
India 251 (49.5 overs): Richa Ghosh 94(77); chloe tryon 3-32
South Africa 252-7 (48.5 overs): Nadine de Klerk 84* (54), Laura Wolvaardt 70 (111)
South Africa won by three wickets