The ODI series between India and South Africa ended with South Africa surprising the hosts with a dominant performance with the bat and ball. As a result, South Africa claimed an impressive 4-1 series win and have now won 10 of their last 11 ODIs and have also moved to second place in the Women’s ODI Team Rankings.
A lot of records and personal milestones were achieved during the series. In the very first game, Harmanpreet Kaur reached a milestone of representing India in 100 ODIs. Mithali Raj also created history by becoming the first Indian woman and 2nd woman overall to reach 10000 runs in international cricket. She subsequently also became the first woman in history to score 7000 runs in ODIs. Harmanpreet Kaur also ended the series scoring 2500+ runs in her ODI career, becoming the third Indian woman, after Mithali Raj and Anjum Chopra, to achieve this feat. Laura Wolvaardt had an excellent series as she reached 2000 runs in her ODI career and so did her teammate Marizanne Kapp. Shabnim Ismail also became the first South African woman to claim 150 wickets in ODIs.
The 3-match ODI series also promises to be interesting with India, bruised by the loss in the ODIs, will hope to extract revenge in the format that they will be more comfortable playing. Their recent success came in this format only, where they were strong contenders for the Women’s World T20 in Australia just before the pandemic, having reached the finals.
The series may also feature many personal milestones which are due to be achieved by the players. Some of the records that can be made or broken are as follows:
Marizanne Kapp and Jemimah Rodrigues may enter the 1000-run club:
South African all-rounder Marizanne Kapp has 986 runs from 81 T20Is and needs just another 14 runs to score 1000 runs in her T20I career. Indian opener Jemimah Rodrigues had a disappointing ODI series but will hope for better returns in this format. She will need just 70 runs to reach 1000 runs in T20Is, after scoring 930 runs in 44 T20Is that she has played.
Mignon du Preez and Lizelle Lee battle to become South Africa’s highest run-scorer:
The series is also going to be an interesting battle to become the highest run-scorer in Women’s T20Is for South Africa. With the leading run-scorer Dane van Niekerk absent, both have an opportunity to topple her at the top. While Dane van Niekerk is currently at the top having 1839 runs to her name, Mignon du Preez is a close second with 1740 runs while Lizelle Lee follows her with 1692 runs.
Shafali Verma to complete 500 runs in T20Is:
Shafali Verma had announced her arrival in T20I cricket in Australia last year during the Women’s World T20 where she was the nemesis for other opponents, winning games for India with her fast starts. She has 487 runs to her name in just 19 T20Is and will be looking to complete 500 runs by the end on this series.
Poonam Yadav would claim 100 wickets in T20Is:
Poonam Yadav is easily India’s most successful bowler in T20I cricket, taking 95 wickets in 67 games, followed by Jhulan Goswami, who has taken 56 wickets in 68 games. After reaching a personal milestone of playing 50 ODIs for India, she has another milestone approaching, that of picking up 100 wickets in T20Is. If she takes 5 wickets in this series, she will achieve this feat and will become the first Indian woman to pick up 100 wickets in T20Is.
Radha Yadav and Sune Luus would reach the 50-wicket club:
Indian spinner Radha Yadav and South African all-rounder Sune Luus also have a chance of reaching a personal milestone of claiming 50 wickets in T20I cricket in this series. While Radha Yadav is just 1 wicket away at 49 wickets from 35 games, Sune Luus needs another 3 wickets to reach that milestone, having claimed 47 wickets from 77 T20Is.
The T20I series between India and South Africa is expected to be quite an enthralling series with many records set to be broken and many personal milestones to be achieved.
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