India Women level the series by winning the third T20: beat South Africa by 10 wickets; Mandhana scores fifty, Pooja becomes Player of the Series

After losing the first match of the three-match T20 series by 12 runs and the second match being washed out due to rain, the Indian women’s team has made a comeback. In the one-sided third T20 match, India Women defeated South Africa by 10 wickets. With this, the series was tied 1-1.

In the match played on Tuesday night at Chennai’s Chepauk Stadium, India’s captain Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and decided to bowl. The Indian bowlers bowled brilliantly and bowled out South Africa for 84 runs in 17.1 overs. In reply, the Indian team scored 88 runs without losing any wicket in 10.5 overs and won by 10 wickets.

4 wickets for Pooja Vastrakar
South Africa’s start was not very good. They lost their first wicket at 19 runs. In the third over of the innings, captain Laura Woolwart was dismissed by off-spinner Shreyanka Patil at a score of 9 runs. After this, in the 5th over, Marijon Kapp was caught by Shafali Verma off Pooja Vastrakar.
The third wicket fell in the form of Tajmin Britz. Britz, who had scored consecutive half centuries in the last 2 matches, was dismissed by Deepti Sharma on 20 runs. Here captain Harmanpreet Kaur took a brilliant catch. Pooja was selected as the Player of the Match and Player of the Series for her brilliant performance.

After Britz was out, no South African player could survive for long. In the 11th over of the innings, Pooja took 2 wickets. First she dismissed Anike Bosch and then bowled Nandini de Klerk for a score of zero.

Radha’s wicket maiden over
Radha Yadav bowled brilliantly and took 3 wickets for 6 runs in 3 overs of this match. The left arm spinner first dismissed Annerie Dirksen LBW in the 13th over and then bowled a wicket maiden over in the 17th over taking 2 wickets. In that over, she dismissed Sinalo Jafta for 8 runs and Malba for zero and bowled an all-out South Africa. Apart from her and Pooja, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka and Deepti got 1-1 wickets each.

7 South African batsmen could not reach the double-digit mark
South Africa’s batting, which batted brilliantly in the first 2 T20s, proved to be a complete flop in this match. 7 players including captain Laura Woolwart could not even reach double figures. 2 batsmen were out on a score of zero while Aibonga Khaka returned to the pavilion on a score of 0. Tajmin Brits scored the highest 20 runs for South Africa.

Strong start from India
Shefali Verma and Smriti Mandhana gave India a strong start. Both added 40 runs in 6 overs of powerplay. After that, they shared a 50-run partnership for the first wicket in the 7th over. Both of them together did not give a single chance to South Africa and gave India a 10-wicket win. Shefali and Smriti batted brilliantly and added 88 runs in 65 balls and achieved the target of 84 runs in just 10.5 overs to give India the win. Shefali scored 27 runs in 25 balls. While Smriti contributed 54 runs in 40 balls.

Smriti Mandhana’s 24th fifty
Mandhana, who is in great form, scored the 24th half-century of her T20 career. For this she faced 40 balls. Her innings made the match one-sided. Mandhana completed her fifty by hitting a six and won the match with the same six. She played an innings of 54 runs in 40 balls at a strike rate of 135. She also hit 8 fours and 2 sixes in the innings.