India Women and South Africa Women faced each other in the third T20I series in Lucknow on Tuesday (March 23).

Opting to bowl first, the hosts restricted South Africa to a paltry 112/7 in 20 overs. Rajeshwari Gayakwad was the star with the ball, taking 3 wickets by conceding 9 runs in her four overs.

Arundhati Reddy (1-18), Radha Yadav (1-24), Deepti Sharma (1-22) and Simran Bahadur (1-29) also chipped in with wicket apiece.

It was a disappointing batting performance from the visitors as none of the batters managed to touch the 30-run mark. Skipper Sune Luus was the top-scorer with 25-ball 28.

In reply, India rode on opener Shafali Verma’s brutal 30-ball 60 (7 fours and 5 sixes) and stand-in captain Smriti Mandhana’s unbeaten 48 off 28 balls to overhaul the target with 9 wickets in hand and 54 balls to spare.

It was a consolation victory for the Women in Blue, having already conceded an unassailable 2-0 lead to South Africa in the three-match T20I series.

Brief Scores:

South Africa Women 112/7 in 20 overs (Sune Luus 28; Rajeshwari Gayakwad 3-9) lost to India Women 114/1 in 11 overs (Shafali Verma 60; Smriti Mandhana 48; Nondumiso Shangase 1-18) by 9 wickets.