India women’s team went into the second ODI against South Africa 1-0 up and needing to win this ODI to win the series too.

Well, Indian women’s team went out and did just that. South African captain Dane van Niekerk opted to field first after winning the toss and her decision to do so sealed her team’s fate. Indian opener Smriti Mandhana, who has scored 84 runs in the first ODI, smashed her 3^rd ODI ton, a score of 135 off 129 balls with 14 fours and 1 six. This score is Smriti’s highest ODI score now.

She added 56 with Punam Raut (20), 51 runs with Mithali Raj (20) and 134 runs with Harmanpreet Kaur for the 3^rd wicket. Harmanpreet remained not out on 55 off 69 balls with 2 fours and 1 six. However, the player who stole the show in the death overs was Veda Krishnamurthy, who scored 51* in 33 balls with 6 fours and 1 six, taking India to 302/3, adding 61 runs with Harmanpreet.

South African opener Lizelle Lee scored 73 off 75 balls with 7 fours and 3 sixes. After her, the only other player to reach double figures was Marizanne Kapp, who made 17 runs. Indian bowlers demolished the South African batting lineup, as Poonam Yadav picked up 4/24 and Rajeshwari Gayakwad picked up 2/14. They were aided by Deepti Sharma who picked 2/34.

Amidst all this, India’s veteran fast bowler Jhulan Goswami reached a major milestone in the Women’s ODI history, as she became the first bowler ever to reach 200 wickets in WODIs. She reached the milestone in her 166^th match.

India women’s team has won their first two matches of the ICC Women’s Championship and the last WODI against South Africa will be played on Feb 10 at the Diamond Oval in Kimberly.

BRIEF SCORES:

IND-W 302/3 (S MANDHANA 135, H KAUR 55) defeated SA-W 124 (L LEE 73; P YADAV 4/24) by 178 runs
India Women leads the three WODI series 2-0.