Indian women’s team won the second ODI against South Africa women by 9 wickets thanks to the efforts of Smriti Mandhana and Jhulan Goswami, with some help from Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Punam Raut.

Mithali Raj won the toss and chose to bowl first in the second ODI which was played at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow.

It was a poor batting performance by the South Africa women with Lara Goodall top-scoring with 49 and captain Sune Luus contributing with 36.

Other batswomen had no answer to India pacer Jhulan Goswami, who ended up with figures of 4/42 and they were also troubled by spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad, who took 3/37.

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Mansi Joshi also picked two wickets to wrap South Africa Women’s innings at 157 in 41 overs.  

In reply, Indian women lost Jemimah Rodrigues for just 9 runs, but Smriti Mandhana blasted her way to a 64-ball 80* which consisted of 10 fours and 3 sixes. She was ably supported by Punam Raut who also remained unbeaten on 62 in 89 balls with 8 fours.

They added 138* runs for the second wicket, as India achieved the target in 28.4 overs with 9 wickets in hand.

Jhulan Goswami won the Player of the Match award for her four wickets as India equaled the five-match ODI series 1-1. The third WODI will be played on March 12 at the same venue.

BRIEF SCORES:

SAW 157 (L GOODALL 49; J GOSWAMI 4/42) lost to INDW 160/1 (S MANDHANA 80*, P RAUT 62*) by 9 wickets.

5-match series level 1-1