South Africa won the toss and elected to bowl first. With many changes on both sides and Simran making her T20I debut, both teams aimed at starting the T20 campaign on a winning note at Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium.
First Innings: South Africa after winning the toss, decided to put India to bat first
With Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma opening the game for India, Mlaba was on the attack with the ball for the visitors. Mandhana lost her wicket early to Ismail in the powerplay and Harleen Deol joined Verma on the crease. At the end of the powerplay, India was at 41/1. Verma, playing her 20th innings, completed her 500 T20I international career runs, becoming the 7th Indian player to do so. She was soon dismissed at 23(22) on Mlaba’s ball.
Jemimah Rodrigues joined Deol on the crease and the two put up a 50-run partnership on the board. Rodrigues was back in form after her poor performance in the ODI series. Deol, who was promoted to No. 3, batted fearlessly to get her maiden half-century. Just after completing a 50-run stand, both of them were taken down in the exact same manner by Anneke Bosch in the same over, on alternative balls. Both of them hit the ball long-on and were caught by Shabnim Ismail.
Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh, who replaced the above two, entered the crease looking to finish off the innings. But it couldn’t happen as Ismail took her 2 scalps in the last over of the innings as she dismissed Ghosh and Arundhati Reddy at 5(9) and 0(1) respectively. South Africa restricted India to a par score of 130/6 to round-off the innings.
Second Innings: South Africa needed 131 Runs to Win
Lizelle Lee and Anne Bosch opened the innings for South Africa with Arundhati Reddy in the attack with the new ball. Smriti and Deepti’s miscommunication led to Lee being dropped in the very first over off Reddy’s ball. But they didn’t have to wait long as India got their first breakthrough and Arundhati Reddy took Lizelle down.
Stand-in captain Smriti Mandhana had to walk back as she suffered an injury on her ankle. With Harmanpreet Kaur missing out on the game due to her injury, this was a major setback for India. But she was back on the field soon to lead her side.
With India struggling to defend their score, Skipper Sune Luus and Anne Bosch completed a 50-run stand for the first wicket. Indian bowlers failed to take down Luus and Bosch as they continued to hit the ball and put up 100 runs on the scoreboard, at the loss of just one wicket. Just when Rajeshwari Gayakwad dropped Luus off Deol’s ball, she (Deol) caught and bowled the skipper on the very next ball to break the partnership. Laura Wolvaardt replaced Sune Luus as she departed at 43(49).
You just can’t keep her out of the game 🙌🔥
She is Shabnim Ismail. #INDvSA #INDWvSAW pic.twitter.com/CwTq3oaRPR
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) March 20, 2021
Anne Bosch continued her good form as she was able to bring in her maiden 50 off 39 balls. South Africa looked at finishing off the game and India looked at getting a breakthrough to restrict them. But India’s sober performance on the field cost them very high as they gave away a lot of runs for the boundary. SA identified the gaps and took calculated risks to hit the ball to take their team towards victory.
Anne Bosch was the star of the show with her undefeated 66*(48). As India felt the absence of Harmanpreet Kaur, South Africa won the first T20I by 8 wickets by dominating over India. The Proteas now lead the series 1-0.
This is Harleen Deol’s first T20I Half-century.
Her T20 International innings :
8 vs. ENG
14 vs. ENG
1 vs. ENG
0 vs. WITODAY: 52(47)
This is also her highest T20I score. #INDvSA #INDWvSAW pic.twitter.com/59agDMoLxn
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) March 20, 2021
Brief Scores
First Innings:
India- 130/6; Harleen Deol 52(47), Jemimah Rodrigues 30 (27)
South Africa- Shabnim Ismail 3/14 (4), Anne Bosch 2/11 (2)
Second Innings:
South Africa- 133/2; Anne Bosch 66*(48), Sune Luus 43(49)
India- Harleen Deol 1/21 (3), Arundhati Reddy 1/30 (3.1)
1ST T20 – SOUTH AFRICA DEFEAT INDIA BY 8 WICKETS. 🙌🔥#INDvSA #INDWvSAW pic.twitter.com/3TpmHH514Q
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) March 20, 2021
India will lock horns with South Africa again in the 2nd T20 which is scheduled tomorrow, 21st March, at 7 PM IST.
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I’m a Senior Masters student pursuing Journalism and Mass Communication. An all time Cricket enthusiast. I could never play the game but always loved watching it, and now writing about it!