India began their ICC Women’s Championship campaign with a clinical 88-run win over South Africa in Kimberly on Monday.
Opener Smriti Mandhana scored a fluent 84 to set a 214-run target and pacers , Jhulan Goswami (4/24) and Shikha Pandey (3/23) bowled the Proteas out for 125 to claim a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series.
While there was no live telecast of the match, Cricket South Africa uploaded a recap and highlights package on their YouTube channel. The feed showed some of the wickets and shots from the match at the Diamond Oval.
“Smriti played well, we had a good partnership. Though the wicket was a little on the slower side, I think the bowlers have given us the breakthrough and the spinners have done very well. Overall, it was a very good team performance from the Indian camp,” Raj was quoted as saying after the match in the video.
The match started on a strong with Punam Raut and Mandhana putting together 55 runs for the opening stand. After Raur feel, Raj joined Mandhana on crease and shared a solid stand of 99.
“We have our game plan in place for the South African bowlers and the left-right combination always works whether you are batting or even the field placements .
“200+ on this wicket was good enough for the bowlers,” the India captain added.
However, from 154/1, the team collapsed to 196/7 before Goswami and Pandey took India to 213/7, which turned up to be more than enough.
The pacers then took seven wickets between them to bundle out Proteas for 125. Captain Dane van Niekerk top-scored for South Africa with a 41.
Pandey rocked the hosts early by removing opener Lizelle Lee (3), wicket-keeper Trisha Chetty (5) and Mignon du Preez (0) to leave them at 23/3 in 9.2 overs.
Spinner Poonam Yadav (2/22) then accounted for the other opener Laura Wolvaardt (21), while Goswami trapped Chloe Tryon LBW as South Africa lost half their side in 22.5 overs.
“It was poor execution, I thought 213 was a low score on a wicket liek that. Our batters didn’t apply themselves, probably just expected it to happen. With a quality side like India in the bowling, you can’t be complacent,” the skipper said after the match.
“The top order let us down today, I could have batted better, Just a few things to pin point, not enough partnerships, not enough application in the middle. It was hot, but that is not an excuse,” she added.
Mandhana, the Player of the Match, was glad to be in good touch again. This was her first half-century since a rough patch in the latter stages of the World Cup.
“It was quite difficult because the heat was too much, the way the wicket looked I didn’t think it was too great to bat on. But I enjoyed batting, I was timing the ball well from the start. I wanted to capitalise on it but could not convert it to a hundred. I’ll try to convert it the next time,” she said.
