NEWS
Follow UsThe Sunday crowd at Chinnaswamy was treated to a spectacular show by the Indian women. Playing the first ODI of the three-match series, India won the toss and elected to bat first on a track that had something for everyone—the batters could play on the up if they maintained their discipline, the pacers got a decent amount of seam movement when they pitched the new ball on its seam, and the spinners enjoyed ample drift and turn.
The South African bowlers, Ayabonga Khaka (3/47), Masabata Klaas (2/51), and Nondumiso Shangase (1/54), were on the money and troubled Indian batters from the first over. Except for Smriti Mandhana (117 off 127), who scored a spectacular hundred, none of the top seven batters could spend enough time on the crease to create a solid impact on the game.
If not for Deepti Sharma (37 off 48) and Pooja Vastrakar (31 off 42), India wouldn’t have crossed 240. However, along with Mandhana, they ensured that India reached a competitive score of 265 in their 50 overs.
“Smriti and Deepti, because of them, I'm saying it's a good start,” Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said during the post-match presentation.
“Pooja also made a good contribution. The message was very clear: keep backing yourself, we have a long batting lineup, we have six batters who can bat 50 overs. Not everyone can bat well on a given day, today Smriti, Deepti and Pooja contributed.”
The Indian captain also praised her all-rounders. Deepti and Vastrakar were top-notch on the day, contributing with the bat and the ball.
“They [allrounders] really love this format, you have enough time to execute and love the way they are performing and we are happy. We already discussed that we are going with five bowlers, myself, Hemalatha and Shafali will bowl one or two overs. Happy that I could bowl. I hope she [Vastrakar] is fine [after the small injury onfield] and overall it was a great bowling performance.”
While chasing, South Africa were timid to say the least, and hardly any batter could put pressure on the Indian bowlers. Only Sune Luus (33 off 58), Marizanne Kapp (24 off 39), and Sinalo Jaffa (27 off 30) provided some support to their innings.
Skipper Laura Wolvaardt still tried to look at the positives and took consolation from her team’s bowling performance.
“Not the ideal way to start the series,” Wolvaardt said.
“There were a few positives though; 260 was a decent score, needed one batter to bat through and was fairly changeable, disappointed though with our batting.
We have only the five out-and-out bowlers [as Marizanne Kapp couldn’t bowl in the game]; they did well, but we could have shown more control and bowled to our fields.
Lost our way with the bat. Being 30/3 is not ideal. We have the lineup to fix what's wrong, and being 30/3 is too much work for the backend. We have to regroup. We did not find a way to get Smriti out, she batted well and congratulate her.”
The second ODI of the three-match series will be held in Bengaluru only on June 19.
If you’ve not downloaded the Cricket.com app yet, you’re missing out — big time. Play Fantasy on Cricket.com NOW! Download the App here.
