The first T20I of the 5-match series between India women and South Africa women was played at the Lalabhai Contractor Stadium, Surat. Sune Luus won the toss and chose to field first.
Debutant Shafali Verma, who is all of 15 years of age, got out for a duck on debut. Mandhana made 21, Rodrigues made 19, but the main scorer of the innings came from skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who made 43 in 34 balls with 2 sixes and 3 fours. India managed to make 130/8 in 20 overs. Shabnim Ismail took 3/26, while Nadine de Klerk picked 2/10 for South Africa women.
In reply Shikha Pandey, Poonam Yadav (2/25) and Deepti Sharma struck early to leave the opposition 29/3 inside the powerplay. Lizelle Lee made 16, while Mignon de Preez held the innings together for a while, as wickets fell around her. She finally fell for 59 runs in 43 balls with 3 sixes and 4 fours.
For India, Deepti Sharma picked 3/8 and Shikha Pandey picked 2/18, as South Africa fell short of the target, making 119 in 20 overs. South Africa Women lost the match by 11 runs. India Women went 1-0 up in the five-match series.
BRIEF SCORES:
IND-W 130/8 (H KAUR 43; S ISMAIL 3/26) defeated SA-W 119 (M du PREEZ 59; D SHARMA 3/8) by 11 runs