NEWS
Follow UsHarmanpreet Kaur’s India again came out on top in the three-match ODI series against South Africa. However, that wasn’t looking like where the match was headed when Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits had a partnership of 102 runs in 19.5 overs.
That’s when Arundhati Reddy came in, got two quick wickets and left South Africa open like a can of worms. Shreyanka Patil helped her and India by eliminating the dangerous Marizanne Kapp.
She bowled the delivery from around the wicket to the right-hander, who gave her a catch, looking to play the ball on the up.
“I wanted to get Marizanne Kapp out,” Patil said after India chased down 216 with ease and the match got over.
“I visualised it last night — making the batter drive to covers or mid-on, and then take a caught and bowled.
Whenever the captain asks me to bowl, I'm happy. I didn't know I was going to bowl the first over. I was happy though. When we got the first win, we knew we had to keep repeating it. Once we got the momentum, we knew we had to make it 3-0,” the off-spinner from Bengaluru added.
Meanwhile, Reddy also got both of her wickets through caught and bowled.
“I've never been great at taking caught and bowled, but I was lucky to have a couple stick today,” Reddy told the broadcasters.
“They had a good opening partnership. We needed a wicket at that point. We just needed to stick to the plans we had made at our meetings. Today's wicket was a bit slower. You had to adjust and use a lot of slower ones and stick to bowling consistently. This was a small adjustment that I had to make today.”
Meanwhile, both the Indian captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, and vice-captain, Smriti Mandhana, attributed much of the improvement palpable in the Indian team during the series to the pre-season camps organised by coach Amol Muzumdar in Mumbai and Bengaluru.
“The last two camps we had - one in Mumbai and one in Bangalore - gave us a lot of confidence,” Captain Kaur said.
“We had a good batters camp. Amol sir worked on our technical stuff. Batting long in that camp helped us through this series,” Mandhana said during the post-match presentation.
Kaur applauded her bowlers for getting the job done in the series despite the tracks being friendly for batters during many phases of the three-match series.
“The way our bowlers bowled in this series, credit goes to them. They were outstanding,” Kaur said.
“These conditions aren't the easiest for the bowlers. I have trust in all the bowlers. I just tell the bowlers to stick to their strengths, no matter wherever they bowl. The plan was simple, just to bowl within the stumps. We'll enjoy the win tonight, but the Test match is coming, and then the T20s. We'll have to plan for that as well.”
After winning the three-match ODI series 3-0 in Bengaluru, India will face South Africa in the solitary Test match and the three T20I series in Chennai.
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