Leicester: South Africa Defeat India by 115 Runs in their fifth match of ICC Women’s World Cup held on Grace Road ground on Saturday. Chasing the target of 274 runs from South Africa, the entire Indian team got stuck on just 158 runs in 46 overs. This is the first defeat of the Indian team in this World Cup. Although the Indian team, despite this defeat, has remained in second place in the match table with four wins in five matches. Deepti Sharma (60) and Jhulan Goswami (48) could fight for India. Apart from these, Poonam Raut (22) and Ekta Bisht (13) could cross the figure of tens. Captain Mitali Raj and Harpreet Kaur could not even open the account.
The Indian team started very bad
The Indian team’s start to chase big scores was very bad. Opener Smriti Mandhana (4) returned to the pavilion before reaching the tenth in the third match. After this Poonam and Deepti tried their best to handle the team with a 43-run partnership for the second wicket. But on the last ball of the 12th over, Poonam’s got stumped out. as soon as the fall of the wicket started. Over the 20th over, India’s seven wickets fell on the totals of 65 Runs, from where the victory of South Africa started becoming concrete. Deepti kept the Indian struggle alive with a 53-run partnership with Jhulan, but India’s victory was almost over due to slow run-rate.
Captain Dan van Niekerk finished the first ball of the 39th over with five fours in 111 balls, with the help of half-century, Dipti struggled. Jhulan remained unbeaten in 79 balls with six boundaries, although India failed to win. For South Africa, Nick achieved the maximum of four wickets, while the skipper got two wickets. South Africa won the third win in five matches and is at the fourth spot.
Earlier, after losing the toss, Lizelle Lee scored 92 runs for South Africa. Not only did the remarkable 57 runs by Niekerk. Indian opener Mithali Raj, who decided to bowl first after winning the toss, gave Shikha Pandey a chance in the second over to take pride in his decision. Shikha bowled Laura Wolvaardt (1) to give India the first breakthrough, but Lee and Trisha Chetty (24) took the pitch after that. Both shared a 91-run partnership for the second wicket. The unmatched performances in the previous match broke the partnership by knocking out Chetti.
Lee was dismissed by Harmanpreet Kaur on a total of 132. In 65 balls, 10 fours and seven sixes in the fourth ball of the 21st over, who were playing the stormy innings, were declared leg-before. Mignon du Preez (22) and Marizanne Kapp (29) returned to the pavilion for a total score of 160 and 162, respectively. Here the African team came in a little trouble. The captain, however, played a responsible innings and stood at one end. In the end, he led the team with Sune Luus (16), Chloe Tryon (24), and brought the team to the fullest challenge. Shikha returned the pavilion on the fourth ball of the 49th over. He played 66 balls in his innings and put a six in addition to seven fours. For India, Shikha took three wickets. Ekta and Harmanpreet got two successes. Poonam Yadav and Jhulan got one wicket each.
Teams:
India: Mithali Raj (Captain), Poonam Raut, Smriti Mandhana, Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur, Nujrat Parvin, Deepti Sharma, Sushma Verma, Poonam Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Mona Mesram, Veda Krishnamurthy, Rajeshwari Gaikwad, Ekta Bist.
