Sune Luus maiden Test ton, and skipper Laura Wolvaard’s career-best orchestrates a solid Proteas fightback after being asked to follow-on.
The visitors, South Africa displayed some sort of resilience in response to India’s massive 1st innings total of 603. The experienced duo of Sune Luus and Marizanne Kapp kept Indian bowlers at bay. Nadine de Klerk joined Marizanne Kapp and took the baton over from Sune Luus after her departure.
The overnight duo of Marizanne Kapp and Nadine de Klerk resumed with South Africa’s overnight score of 236/4 in 72 overs. Sneh Rana cleaned up Marizanne Kapp to break the 51-run 5th wicket stand, providing the 5th breakthrough for India. She ran through South Africa’s middle order in a giffy, triggering a collapse as the Proteas were bundled out for 266 in 84.3 overs, losing their last five wickets for just 17 runs. India gained a massive 337 runs 1st innings lead. It is the 3rd highest first innings lead in a Women’s Test match.
Marizanne Kapp (74 off 141 balls), Sune Luus (65 off 164 balls), Nadine de Klerk (39 off 44 balls), and Anneke Bosch (39 off 73 balls) were the top performers with the bat for South Africa. Sneh Rana (25.3-4-77-8), Deepti Sharma (21-5-47-2), and Rajeshwari Gayakwad (17-3-53-0) were the top performers with the ball for India. The off-spinner Sneh Rana becomes the first player in the Women’s Test to take an 8-wicket haul in the team’s first innings of a match. She now holds the record for the 2nd best figures for India in a Women’s Test match.
Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur enforced the follow-on and South Africa got off to a poor start in their 2nd innings of the Test match. They lost the wicket of Anneke Bosch in the 8th over of the innings. Deepti Sharma provided the first breakthrough for India. Sune Luus joined skipper Laura Wolvaardt at the crease and the duo displayed another resilient show leading a solid South African fightback eating up a major chunk of the lead with a 190-run partnership for the 2nd wicket, bailing their side out of trouble on a tricky surface.
Sune Luus notched up her maiden century (109 off 203 balls) in the red-ball format before getting dismissed. It couldn’t have been a better time to do so for the former South African skipper. The pair took the lead to under 150. Marizanne Kapp joined skipper Laura Wolvaardt at the crease and the duo saw the rest of the day through by being unseparated. However, Marizanne Kapp has rode her share of luck and is currently living a charmed life at the crease after being dropped a couple of times towards the closing stages of the third day’s play at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, in Chennai.
South Africa finished the third day’s play with 232/2 in 85 overs, trailing India by just 105 runs, going into the final day’s play.