Indian eves and South African women met at East London for the second T20I of the 5 match series. India women led the series 1-0 and South African women were looking to equalize the series.
Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and decided to field first. Her decision proved to be fruitful, as both openers Lee and Van Niekerk went for 18 runs each. Sune Luus scored 33 in 32 balls and Nadine de Klerk hit 26 off 28 balls, as Indian bowlers strongly controlled the flow of runs with constant wickets. Anuja Patil picked 2/37 and Poonam Yadav picked 2/18 for India, while Pooja Vastrakar and Shikha Pandey picked one wicket each, to fold the South African women’s innings at 142/7 in 20 overs.
India had to score 143 in 20 overs and needed a strong start from their openers and they got more than that. Both Mithali Raj and Smriti Mandhana stamp their authority and class on the chase. Mithali and Mandhana added 106 runs for 1st wicket in 14.2 overs. Mandhana hit 57 in 42 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes and Mithali Raj remained unbeaten for 76 off 61 balls with 8 fours; as India cruised to win with 9 wickets in hand and 5 balls to go. Moseline Daniels picked the only wicket to fall, that of Mandhana.
India won the match and went 2-0 up in the series and the have a realistic chance of beating South Africa in both ODI and T20I series this time.
BRIEF SCORES:
SA -W 142/7 (S LUUS 33; P YADAV 2/18) lost to IND-W 144/1 (M RAJ 76*, S MANDHANA 57*) by 9 wkts
