The horror tour for South Africa finally came to an end, as India yet again, sealed a victory in the 5th and final T20I thereby winning the series by a magnificent 4-0 margin at Steyn City School ground.
South Africa won the toss and decided to bat first and were skittled for a disastrous 54. South Africa had a tough start to their innings losing Simone Lourens for 4 as Sonam Yadav got the better of her and exactly an over later, EJ van Rensburg was dismissed by Yashasri and with Karabo Meso getting out South Africa was already showing signs of a collapse. Wickets kept tumbling as Yashasri got rid of Miane Smit and Jenna Evans in consecutive balls of the 4th over and they were in deep trouble tottering at 17/5. Skipper Oluhle Siyo with the all-rounder Kayla Reyneke began forging a partnership but with the former getting dismissed for an unimpressive 12 off 24, the equation for recovery was only getting tougher for South Africa. Parshavi Chopra was impressive in getting rid of Seshnie Naidu and Jemma Botha in the same over and with Nthabiseng Nini and Monalisa Lagodi getting dismissed by Falak Naz and Soumya Tiwari respectively, South Africa’s innings had come to a close at 54 all out with Reyneke not out for 20. India had a good outing with the ball as Yashasri scalped 3 wickets with Falak Nazir, Sonam Yadav and Parshavi Chopra chipping in with 2 wickets each as India completely overpowered South Africa.
India’s chase was not too complicated but losing Shweta Sehrawat early on for 7 stung but with Shafali Verma and G Trisha who kept the scoreboard ticking, India looked on course. Soon, Shafali Verma was dismissed by Seshnie Naidu who continues to shine for South Africa and also got rid of Richa Ghosh in the 7th over but the target was still achievable and well within India’s reach. G Trisha with her knock of 10 and Soumya Tiwari with her 4 steered India to victory in the 9th over thereby drawing curtains on a memorable tour for the Indian U19 team versus the South African U19 team ahead of the ICC Women’s U19 T20 World Cup 2023 here in South Africa.
India U19 Girls Won by 7 Wickets in the final T20 today.
They sealed the series 4-0 against South Africa U19#CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/3PlUeSHIa9
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) January 4, 2023
India will certainly take the positives from the series yet look to work on a few areas and carry forward the winning form to the maiden World Cup whereas South Africa will have to re-assess and re-evaluate their plans, iron out serious deficiencies in their batting and come up with a fresh approach for the home World Cup.
Perfect preparations for India U19 Women’s team ahead of the inaugural U19 World Cup that starts 14th Jan#CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/FvOK6wHexC
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) January 4, 2023
Brief Scores: South Africa 54/10 in 13.2 overs (Reyneke 20*, Siyo 12; Yashasri 3/14, S Yadav 2/6) lost to India 55/3 in 9.2 overs (S Verma 22, G Trisha 10*; S Naidu 2/5)
I am a first year postgraduate student pursuing a MA in Media and Communication Studies at Christ University, Bengaluru. I am a podcaster, blogger and an avid cricket fan. When not glued to cricket matches, you can find me submerged in books and thinking about cricket all the time.