The Indian women’s team led by skipper Harmanpreet Kaur clinched the 1st ODI by a comprehensive margin to go 1-0 up in the three-match ODI series. The 33-year-old leg-spinner from Kerala, Asha Sobhana was handed her debut cap in the 1st ODI by skipper Harmanpreet Kaur. As far as the South Africans are concerned, the 23-year-old all-rounder Annerie Dercksen was handed the debut cap.
The 27-year-old all-rounder from Hyderabad Arundhati Reddy was handed her debut cap by the vice-captain of the Indian team, Smriti Mandhana. She had an impressive outing with the ball in the 2nd edition of the Women’s Premier League as she returned with eight wickets to her name in nine innings. She represented South Zone in the Senior Women’s Inter-zonal Multi-day Trophy. She had scores of 85, 26, 57, and 6 in the couple of matches. Courtesy of her impressive performances, she earned a call-up to the squads for the all-format series.
She made her international debut on 19th September 2018 in a T20I against Sri Lanka. She has scored 73 runs at a strike rate of 80.21 in 13 innings with the bat. Apart from her contributions with the bat, she has also picked up 18 wickets with the ball at a strike rate of 26.09 and an economy of 8.02 in 25 innings with the ball so far.
On the other hand, the visitors, South Africa also had one debutant in the form of the 28-year-old wicket-keeper batter Meike De Ridder. She made her international debut in a T20I against Pakistan on 4th September 2023. She has just played a couple of matches so far at the international level. She represents the Eastern Province Women at the domestic level.