Spinner Deepti Sharma bowled three maiden overs in her four-over quota, apart from taking three wickets, as the Indian women team survived a Mignon du Preez blitz to eke out an 11-run win over South African in the first T20 International in Surat on Tuesday.
Asked to bat, the Indian middle-order struggled to convert starts on a slow pitch, settling for a modest 130 for eight.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur top-scored for the side with a 34-ball 43, the innings containing three fours and two sixes as her other colleagues found the going tough.
The Indian spinners exploited the favourable conditions to make it tough for the visitors, who were bowled out for 119 with one ball left.
Here’s how Twitter reacted to the exciting game:
First runs off Deepti Sharma's bowling on the 19th ball she bowled in this game. Only three players bowled more dots balls before conceding their first run in a T20I game. #INDWvSAW
— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) September 24, 2019
4 Overs
— Sir Jadeja fan (@SirJadeja) September 24, 2019
3 Maidens
8 Runs
3 Wkts
Brilliant bowling by Deepti Sharma helps India beat South Africa by 11 runs defending a low target of 131. This also ends India's longest losing streak of 7 matches in T20Is.
India lead the 5 match series 1-0. Congrats to Women in Blue 👏🙏🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/BOJ1GZx6wR
Deepti Sharma bowled three maiden overs in her four-over quota. First Indian achieve that. Also took 3 crucial wickets.
— Rohit Sharma FC (@Ro45FC) September 24, 2019
Conceded 8 Runs from 19th over.#INDWvSAW @BCCIWomen pic.twitter.com/rGA1jpMmSd
What a brilliant spell from #DeeptiSharma. Truly magical.#INDWvsSAW
— Midhun M Menon (@MidhunMMenon25) September 24, 2019
Most wickets in India in Women's #T20I #Cricket:
— CricApp (@TheCricApp) September 24, 2019
29 Ekta Bisht
25 #PoonamYadav*
20 Jhulan Goswami
16 Megan Schutt
15 Deandra Dottin, Anuja Patil
14 Sophie Devine
13 Leigh Kasperek, #DeeptiSharma*
12 Ellyse Perry#INDvSA #SAvIND
The rise of Shafali
What a moment this is for the hard-hitting batter Shafali Verma, who makes her India debut today. She is only 15! 😊💪🏾#INDWvsSAW pic.twitter.com/nD0C6ApQld
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) September 24, 2019
Shafali Verma makes her India debut at 15. Second youngest Indian to play international cricket (after Gargi Banerji)
— Sarang Bhalerao (@bhaleraosarang) September 24, 2019
Comes from Rohtak.
Got inspired watching Sachin Tendulkar in his final Ranji Trophy game v Haryana in Lahli. That’s when she wanted to be a cricketer#IndWvSAW
Packed stands
Over 10 000 fans have turned out to watch the opening T20i between India and South Africa. Well done to the people of Surat for showing such great support for women’s cricket! Shout out to @BCCI for growing the game 🙌 #IndvSA #AlwaysRising pic.twitter.com/vDcEGTzG9V
— Kass Naidoo (@KassNaidoo) September 24, 2019
Chants of 'No Ball No Ball' from the crowd as the big screen replays the Smriti Mandhana dismissal. They're disappointed, she has to go. India in some trouble. But the 8000+ people here are going wild as Harmanpreet Kaur walks in. #INDvSA
— Snehal Pradhan (@SnehalPradhan) September 24, 2019
Jonty Mandhana?
This is Smriti Mandhana 2.0, the fielder.
— Annesha Ghosh (@ghosh_annesha) September 24, 2019
That catch and the two boundary-saving dives lend testimony.#indwvssaw