India Women and South Africa Women faced each other in the T20I series opener in Lucknow on Saturday (March 20).

Asked to bat first, the home team posted 130/6 in 20 overs on the back of Harleen Deol’s 47-ball 52 and Jemimah Rodrigues’ 30 off 27 deliveries.

Shabnim Ismail was the stand-out bowler for the Proteas Women, claiming 3 wickets by conceding 14 runs in her four overs. Anne Bosch (2-11) and Nonkululeko Mlaba (1-28) were also among the wickets.

In reply, the visitors lost Lizelle Lee (8) cheaply but the duo of Anne Bosch and skipper Sune Luus added 90 runs for the second wicket to put their team in a commanding position.

While Harleen Deol broke the partnership by dismissing Sune Luus on 43, Anne Bosch held the one end firmly.

Bosch (66* off 48 balls) shared an unbeaten 29-run stand with Laura Wolvaardt (9* off 7 balls) to take South Africa over the line with 8 wickets and 5 balls to spare.

With this victory, the South African also took a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series.

Brief Scores:

India Women 130/6 in 20 overs (Harleen Deol 52; Shabnim Ismail 3-14) lost to South Africa Women 133/2 in 19.1 overs (Anne Bosch 66*; Sune Luus 43; Arundhati Reddy 1-20) by 8 wickets.