IND-W vs SA-W Second ODI Highlights: Wolvaardt, Kapp tons in vain as India squeezes out four-run win

I think it’s a great achievement for women’s cricket to have nearly 650 runs in the game. 

South Africa played really well. I think while batting, we were up to the mark. Initially, when the ball was moving, both the openers didn’t throw their wickets. It made it easier later. We made some errors while bowling, we didn’t bowl according to the field. 

I know it’s a batting track, it’s not easy to bowl. But if we bowl again on this kind of track, we need to see what we need to do. Actually, in the batters camp, all the batters bowled. 

Smriti asked me to tell Amol that she’s a great bowler. I think that camp helped us a lot. Shafali also did well with the ball. Good to see Smriti get the wicket. 

I think that [our strike bowler] is always Deepti. She’s someone who always takes wickets for the team. Today I told her she was going to take the wicket when Kapp and Laura were batting. 

I think in the first game, I was batting well, but I got out. I just told myself I wasn’t going to give up, I wasn’t going to think negatively. I wanted to keep batting and keep trusting my skills. When you’re playing international games, I just make sure my mind is positive and fresh, and just trust my skills.

I’m just extremely proud of the group to get us to the position we did. At the halfway stage, it was easy to go into our shells with that huge total on the board. Kappie did so well to take the pressure off the group. India nailed the yorkers well at the death, we gave a few too many runs at that point. If it’s only a four-run loss, you can look back at each little thing, which makes it a little annoying. We’ll look at the positives - this was the best batting performance we’ve had for a while.

Heart is a still beating fast but I think I have a few more grey hairs. It was a fantastic game. At the end of the day, it was an exciting game to watch, not from the dugout but for the crowd. 

On Pooja: Some amazing stuff that she did in the last over. We always believe how you come back in a white-ball game is very crucial. She came back and bowled a spectacular last over with those slower ones and those variations.

On Smriti bowling: Smriti has been nagging me for a while to give her a couple of overs. We made a conscious effort that among our top six batters, somebody needs to put their hand up and bowl a few overs. 

Pooja Vastrakar holds her nerve to see the game through. 

11 runs. Six balls. Pooja Vastrakar to bowl the last over.

Wolvaardt gets a single. De Klerk then sends the ball down third for FOUR. Poor from Pooja to keep gifting full tosses. OH BUT POOJA PULLS ONE BACK. Nadine de Klerk holes out to Arundhati Reddy.IS THIS THE TWIST IN THE TALE? Shanghase is the new batter. But she goes for a first ball duck. Harmanpreet takes a simple catch between cover and point. 

WICKET Nadine de Klerk c Reddy b Vastrakar 28 (22b 2x4 1x6) SR: 127.27; Nondumiso Shangase c Kaur b Vastrakar 0 (1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0

de Ridder takes a very nervy single to give Wolvaardt strike. One ball left. Five runs to get. Six to win. Four to tie scores. Last ball, Pooja Vastrakar goes in with a ball without pace. Wolvaardt swings at the ball and misses and is crestfallen instantly. So near yet so far. 

A dot to start from Arundhati Reddy. Very wide off leg, but Nadine also moved back. So no wide. She asks the umpire with a smile too. She follows it up with another wide, this time given by the umpire. De Klerk then gets a single through mid wicket. Wolvaardt also gets a single. Arundhati then aborts her bowling midway. Dead ball. De Klerk then runs one. Wolvaardt can also manage only a single. De Klerk to face the last ball with SA needing the boundary. Arundhati bowls wide. One extra ball. De Klerk facing it. SIX TO BACKWARD SQUARE LEG. OH SOUTH AFRICA! 11 NEEDED OFF THE LAST SIX.

Pooja Vastrakar returns. Harman goes to pace. Brilliant yorker to begin for Nadine de Klerk. Single taken. Wolvaardt on strike. Little outside the leg stump so safe for SA, that yorker. Asha Sobhana is meanwhile off the field. Pooja gives a full toss to Wolvaardt. She’s run two after thumping that down the ground. Didn’t have enough power to clear the ropes. She then slogs a shot out almost with one hand at the end of it to send the ball to the midwicket fence. FOUR. She then hits the ball down to mid on for a single. Sticking to her yorker lengths, Pooja. Big inside edge off de Klerk here but she brings Wolvaardt on strike. Wolvaardt then goes BIG, over the bowler’s head for SIX. Clean strike. 50-run stand up for this pair.

Deepti to bowl out. Begins with a single, Wolvaardt thumps the ball to the cover region but Jemimah is patrolling. Nadine de Klerk gets on one knee and swats the ball to the backward square fence. She sweeps again for a single and gets Wolvaardt on strike. Deepti goes for back of a length, expecting Wolvaardt to go down the ground. Just a single. Followed bty a dot ball for Nadine de Klerk. A single to finish the over and De Klerk retains strike. 

Shafali Verma given the ball. Nadine de Klerk gets her skipper on strike with a single. Laura Wolvaardt goes straight down the ground for FOUR. Another few singles follow. Eight runs come off the over. 

Asha Sobhana comes for her ninth. She pulls Asha to long on to bring up her 100. Her first against India and her eighth overall. This is now the first Women’s ODI to feature four centurions. She celebrates her century with a lovely SIX and a FOUR. 13 runs from this over. South Africa needs more of this. 

Radha to bowl out. Five singles and the creases are popping on Laura Wolvaardt’s forehwead. Two runs to end the over. 68 to win off 36 balls. 

Deepti returns. Kapp runs two with an inside edge running away fine. Kapp then slams Deepti Sharma over deep midwicket for SIX. She tries to slam one more six, this time over the infield. But she didn’t have enough power in that shot and holes out to Pooja Vastrakar. 

WICKET Marizanne Kapp c Vastrakar b Sharma 114 (94b 11x4 3x6) SR: 121.27

Nadine de Klerk is the new batter and there’s an appeal for LBW. SA reviews and replays show an inside edge. 

Shafali Verma comes to bowl. Kapp sends the ball for a big six over long on. Arundhati catches the ball but is too on the edge to hold on and the ball goes for SIX. 12 runs in total as Kapp and Wolvaardt amp up the risk taking with the game going into crunch mode. 

Deepti Sharma comes on. India needs a wicket. 103 needed off 60 balls. 

Kapp runs two and then takes a single. She’s on 98 now. Wolvaardt whips the ball through midwicket for a single. Kapp then runs two after nudging the ball to fine leg. They are all looking at the umpire if he’ll signal byes. Nope. CENTURY IT IS FOR MARIZANNE KAPP. What a valiant effort. Wolvaardt is celebrating even before Kapp. The SA dressing room is applauding. Muted celebration from the veteran. She knows the job is yet to be done. Kapp then sweeps off a fuller delivery. Deepti things its LBW. Appeals.

Radha Yadav to bowl her ninth. A lengthy chat preceded this over, with Radha getting instructions from Harmanpreet and Smriti Mandhana. Just four runs conceded. 

Hopefully, this doesn’t shake her momentum. She is a few runs away from a deserved century

South Africa needs 107 to win from 66 balls 

Arundhati returns. Wolvaardt takes a single with a pull shot long on. Kapp then sweeps for another boundary. FOUR RUNS! Kapp then gets a single through mid off. Wolvaardt then smacks the ball over the bowler’s head for FOUR. Back to back boundaries here for Wolvaardt as she pierces the field beating two deep fielders. FOUR. A single to end the over and retain strike for Wolvaardt. 

Asha Sobhana bowling her eighth over now. Kapp takes Asha on, playing on the front foot. Cover fielder can’t stop the ball, but Jemimah stops the ball at the cover boundary. One run. Single for Wolvaardt too, who plays on the backfoot. Different approaches from the pair here. Kapp then finds the boundary FOUR. Full delivery, tries to sweep, but it’s missed everything and runs off to the boundary. Couple of singles for the pair and then Kapp closes the over out with a boundary. Swept nicely. So well placed.

125 runs off 138 balls

Arundhati Reddy returns for her second spell. Oscillates from length to fuller deliveries. She’s trying to work a leg stump line and test the batter. Needs to find rhythm to execute it more flawlessly. Seven runs come off the over for South Africa.

Great fielding from Jemimah at the boundary line towards deep mid off to save a couple of runs from Wolvaardt’s shot. However, the skipper ends the over with a FOUR over deep mid wicket. Seven off the over.

The required run rate has crossed 10! Kapp takes stock of the matter and takes a step in the right direction with a SIX towards deep mid wicket. Nine runs off the over. They need more such overs.

Shafali back for her second. Another good over from the India opener where she concedes only the two runs, both taken after the ball was hit towards long off for a single. Deepti Sharma back to the attack.

A FOUR after some time now. Radha bowls a ball outside Kapp’s leg stump but the batter sweeps it over fine leg for a boundary. Another FOUR in this over, again by Kapp, this time sweeping it towards square leg. 100-run partnership comes up for Kapp and Wolvaardt.

That was Shafali’s first over in the match, and gives away four singles. Another good over for the Indian bowling line up today, so far.

The spinners have been slowing down the game, turning the game towards India with every ball, with every dot ball recorded, and with every run saved. It’ll be interesting to see what the South African batters do when the pacers come back to finish off their spells.

South Africa moving at a snail’s pace with just about five runs per over. They need to start hitting almost nine runs per over. Then again, the Indian batters started hitting big towards the second half of their innings. Still anyone’s game this.

Marizanne Kapp brings up her 16th ODI half-century as the duo on the crease slowly inches towards a 100-run partnership. This is very similar to that of Smriti and Harmanpreet during India’s batting but the Proteas pair will need some big-scoring overs.

Asha isn’t having a repeat of her maiden ODI debut, having not picked up a wicket yet, but she’s making sure the batters don’t get a chance to hit the big shots when she’s bowling.

Back-to-back FOURS by Kapp through to the square leg. The first one had some height on it and was moving towards Jemimah Rodrigues but the batter was a bit too behind for her to catch it. Skipper Wolvaardt scores a half century with a FOUR through to mid wicket.

Just the three runs off of Asha’s fourth over. The asking run rate continues to keep getting higher and higher.

We’re halfway through South Africa’s innings. The Proteas need to increase their scoring rate, but with two settled batters at the crease, chasing down the target could very well be possible.

Kapp goes down the ground and hits Radha for a FOUR at long on. This was the Proteas’ first boundary after three overs. Skipper Wolvaardt catches the ball with her bat’s edge as it runs away for another FOUR towards third man.

Indian bowlers are going ahead with very economical overs as Deepti concedes just two runs. Almost half the innings done and more than 200 runs away from a win for the South Africans.

Very economical from Radha as she only gives away three runs. Deepti back with the ball.

Long way to go for South Africa as they reach a century of runs in this match. Only five runs off this over. Radha Yadav back with the ball.

After two dot balls, Asha clearly bowls a wide ball but Kapp hits it for a FOUR over cover. Required run rate is almost 8, whereas the Proteas are going a little over four runs per over.

Lot of movement in Arundhati’s deliveries as South Africa takes four singles off the over. Asha back with the ball and her lofty deliveries.

Good over by Asha as South Africa can only take two runs off this over.

Smriti is back for her second over. After dot three balls, Kapp casually hits it down for a SIX, perhaps a warning to the Indian centurion about who she’s bowling to!

Asha Sobhana joins the bowling attack, her second ODI appearance after she had a magical debut last time when she took a four-fer. Just the three off the over, that includes a very wide ball. Time for drinks.

Huh? Smriti Mandhana is coming on to bowl. AND SHE STRIKES. SHE HAS SENT SUNE LUUS BACK! LUUS HAS EDGED TO THE KEEPER. GONE. The crowd goes insane! Their franchise captain can do no wrong in Bengaluru 

WICKET Sune Luus c †Ghosh b Mandhana 12 (13b 2x4 0x6) SR: 92.3

Marizanne Kapp is the new batter and she symbolically asks Smriti to pipe down with a boundary. Smriti bowls a full toss, and she has smashed this through the cover region for FOUR. 

Five runs and a wicket for the India vice captain. 

Deepti returns. Begins with a dot as Luus defends on the pads. She then finds the gap, as she swats the balls, beating two fielders on the way to the midwicket ropes. FOUR. Defends yet again as Deepti sends one outside off but spinning in a bit. Luus then tries to sweep/paddle a little half-heartedly. Two runs come off it. She then smacks the ball straight to the short midwicket fielder. No run. Luus retains strike with a single. Seven runs off this over. 

Radha returns for her third. Three dots to begin, one involved some clutsy but efficient work from Jemimah at cover. Wolvaardt runs one, sending the ball to long off. Sune Luus decides to go straight down the ground for FOUR. Radha looked like she overpitched the ball here. There’s no assistance for the spinners at all thus far. Luus retains strike with a single. 

Deepti returns. Two dots. And she will get her wicket. Anneke Bosch as she tries to go big but doesn’t connect at all. Jemimah Rodrigues takes a simple catch at extra cover. 

WICKET Anneke Bosch c Rodrigues b Sharma 18 (23b 3x4 0x6) SR: 78.26

Sune Luus is the new batter. What can the former captain and current captain do in this chase of 326? 

Radha returns. And there’s a chance spilled in this over as well and it’s the skipper Wolvaardt who gets the lifeline. Wolvaardt tries to slog over midwicket. Jemimah who is in the way tries to dive backwards to catch it, does but can’t hold on. Tough chance this. Just two runs from this over. 

Deepti returns. Pitched outside off and Wolvaardt drives through cover for FOUR. Jemimah lets this one through. Very uncharacteristic. Wolvaardt then takes a single by giving herself time on the backfoot. Ohhh, a dropped catch! Asha shells one to give Bosch a lifeline. She got down on one knee to pull the ball. Asha can’t hold on to the ball and spills it. A teammate pats her consolatorily. She seemed to jump fine, but don’t think she was a few centimeters too far it seems. 

More spin from the other end. Radha Yadav comes on. Quiet over with just a single coming off the last ball for Laura Wolvaardt who retains strike as well. 

Deepti Sharma into the attack. Starts with three dots, trying to bowl to that stump line, Deepti. She then gives Wolvaardt a little width and she’s swished it on the leg side for a single. Just this solitary single comes off the over. Good one from Deepti. 

Vastrakar returns. Beats Bosch off the first ball. She then smashes the ball past the bowler and mid off for FOUR. Pooja is also bowling a bite wide of the stumps and Bosch steers the ball wide of slips to the boundary for FOUR. 

There’s an LBW appeal at the end there and after resisting a review for the first two appeals earlier, Harman decides to go upstairs. This was full and between middle and leg. Is there something there? Looked like it was going down leg. Review vindicates SA. Impact is Umpire’s Call and the ball is heading well down leg. India loses a review. 

Arundhati returns. Plenty of swing for Arundhati early on. It’s coming into the batter. Bosch begins with some safe play but Wolvaardt manages to dispatch her to the boundary for two back-to-back boundaries. Gave her too much room there, Arundhati and Wolvaardt will never say no to such gifts. 

Vastrakar returns. Five singles. She beats Bosch off the last one as she tries to play off the pads. Tested the batters aplenty with width outside off and a few going in that leg stump line. Safely seen off. 

Arundhati returns and Arundhati strikes! Breaches Tazmin Britz’ defenses and sears through her stumps with an inswinger. The whole team crowds around Arundhati who looked a bit beady eyed. Maiden ODI wicket for the pacer! 

WICKET Tazmin Brits b Reddy 5 (11b 1x4 0x6) SR: 45.45

What a ball this one. Strikes the top of the middle stump and she’s out there pumping her fists. 

The new batter in is Anneke Bosch. LBW appeal but Harmanpreet is smiling away. This time, it’s pitched between off and middle but looks like its heading down leg. All smiles everywhere. Replay shows that the ball would have missed the stumps. 

A few dots later, Anneke Bosch is off the mark with a lovely boundary along the ground beyond the bowler. FOUR. 

It will take a history-making effort from the Proteas to overhaul this Indian side today. The target now - 326. 

Vastrakar returns. A dot ball to begin for Britz. She’s unsteady but there’s slip and gully for her incase she makes mistakes. FOUR for Britz as she whips the balls to the backward square boundary. Asha sauntering to it but isn’t robust enough to stop it on time. The ball is coming on nicely, a good decision to chase by South Africa, but can SA’s batters walk the talk? 

Arundhati Reddy to bowl her first ever over in Women’s ODIs. 

Goes full and straight to Wolvaardt who sends it deep backward square for a single. Arundhati is asking probing questions of Tazmin Brits. Two lbw appeals but neither is successful. The second one was sliding down the leg, 3 runs come of byes. Arundhati then bowls a little wide outside off and that’s what Wolvaardt needs to whip out her cover drive. FOUR. Eight runs off this over. 

Tazmin Brits and Laura Wolvaardt have walked out for South Africa with a Herculean task at hand. Pooja Vastrakar will open the bowling in place of Renuka who has been rested for this game. Begins with a length ball outside the off stump. Wolvaardt pushes it with a straight bat to the fielder at cover. Two dots follow, where Wolvaardt tries to play off her pads. Thick outside egde off the last ball, but lands safely. Wolvaardt takes a single and is off the mark. Plenty of swing on offer for Vastrakar. 

India’s 325/3 against South Africa in Bengaluru is the team’s third-highest score in the format. 

The highest was in South Africa but against Ireland in Potchefstroom, when Deepti Sharma (188) and Punam Raut (109) helped India to 358/2 against Ireland in a quadrangular series in 2017. The second highest score was 333/5 against England in Canterbury in 2022. 

- Great batting from India’s top order as Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur scored a century each to help India reach a mammoth target of 326.

- A short but impactful cameo towards the end of the India innings by Richa Ghosh, who scored 25 runs off 13 balls that included three fours and a six.

- The South African bowlers were often found floundering for different ways to restrict the Indian batters and their blitzkrieg, but were left hapless. The pitch at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium held up its end of being a batting pitch. However, the Proteas would also look to start well as the field has known to favour the chasing side.

On the first ball, there was a chance to run out Richa but Mlaba misses the wicket. Second ball, the Proteas wicketkeeper had the chance to stump her, but couldn’t collect the ball. Third ball, a FOUR. Fourth ball, a SIX. Fifth ball, a FOUR. The skipper rings in her 100 off 87 balls, capping off an incredible innings.

Richa is scoring for fun as she hits another FOUR, flicking it towards fine leg. Richa on strike though, in the last over. Harmanpreet needs 12 runs more.

Richa opens the over with a SIX towards deep mid wicket as Klaas mumbles something to her, probably chiding her bowling. Next ball, the Indian batter flicks the ball between the gully and slip fielders for a FOUR. Harmanpreet sends a slower ball over the fielders on the off side for a FOUR as 300 comes up for India. Can she bring up her 100 in these last two overs?

Richa gets her first FOUR as she guides the straight, on-the-way-to-the-wickets delivery towards the off side for the boundary. Harmanpreet ends the over with a huge SIX down the ground to take her to 82.

OUT! Smriti smacks a four to reach her highest ODI score, and next ball, she gets caught out by Brits at point on a Mlaba delivery. She gets hugs and handshakes from the Indian dugout as Richa Ghosh walks out to see off the Indian innings.

Smriti ends the over with back-to-back FOURS, the first one coming off an awkward shot that went over the slip fielder.

Klaas tries to bring in variation with a slower ball, but Harmanpreet hits it for a FOUR towards extra cover. Next ball, a huge SIX, a 72m one. Smriti joins the show as she hits a FOUR towards square leg. She repeats that to end the over. That was a total of 19 runs conceded by Klaas. Very expensive at the point in the innings, but the Indian batters look to be in the mood.

Harmanpreet swings big and gets another FOUR on her scorecard. This one was a bounce over the boundary rope, just past an oncoming fielder. The Indian skipper goes for the big shot once again but this time, she was almost caught out by Sune Luus at the rope. The South African did get to the ball with a jump but eventually had to push it back in to save five runs. Ten off the over.

Only four runs from the over, through singles. Next up, de Klerk will try to break this seemingly unbreakable partnership.

Coming down the wicket has been Smriti’s way of getting those runs in style as she does it once again to hit Luus for a SIX over mid off. If the duo continues this blitzkrieg, then they should be able to reach a 300+ score. Only time shall tell whether that happens.

That was a long wait for Harmanpreet to reach her half-century as she takes a two after enduring five dot balls.

Smriti takes a single through cover and brings up her second consecutive century against the Proteas.

Harmanpreet is dropped at 41 by Klaas who had the chance to catch her off her own bowling. Next ball, the batter hits her for a FOUR through mid wicket. India reaches 200, and the batters bring up their 100-run partnership. Good going for the duo.

Harmanpreet isn’t one to stay and look from the shadows. Luus gives a full toss which the Indian slaps through towards deep mid wicket for a FOUR.

Smriti will have to wait a bit more as this one was a slow over in terms of runs. Only four runs from the over.

Shangase isn’t spared as well. Smriti comes down the wicket once again and slaps it down the ground for a FOUR. Next ball, she cuts it through the off side, right through the gap, for another FOUR. Followed by, another FOUR, same MO. She’s in her 90s now, and well on her way for a consecutive ODI ton against the Proteas.

Khaka returns to the bowling attack after some while. After a few dot balls and a couple of singles, it is Smriti who comes down the wicket and drives it through extra cover for a FOUR to end the over.

Smriti survives another scare as her shot through mid wicket slips through the hands of a South African fielder and goes for a FOUR.

Nadine de Klerk comes in now. Smriti is almost caught and bowled by de Klerk but the ball falls at a distance out of reach, and the Indian breathes a sigh of relief.

Shangase replaces Luus. A slower over for India in terms of runs, just a couple of singles and a few twos.

Nadine de Klerk is back. Harman drives the half volley up front but brilliant fielding from Marizanne Kapp at the cover boundary as she saves two runs for her team. How is this allowing Kapp to rest her back? Harman tries to drive again but she edges it down third for a single. Mandhana then gets a single down fine leg. Harman then gets a boundary again, this time she’s lucky. Tries to hit it with a full bat but it takes an inside edge and goes past the stumps and the keeper for FOUR. 

Sune Luus returns. Quiet over for the former South African captain but Harmanpreet frees up with Luus gifting her a short ball which Harman is happy to pull to the square leg boundary. 

Mlaba returns. Harmanpreet paddle sweeps for two runs. A few dots follow and she gets Smriti back on strike with a single through point, with a fielder stopping a ball that could have run to the boundary. 

Sune Luus is introduced to the attack. Two dots as Harman tries to get going. A few singles later, Smriti Mandhana then swats the ball past the ropes for SIX, over mid off. 

Mlaba bowls her seventh. Five runs off this over with the pair rotating strike. 

Anneke Bosch is the new bowler. Smriti brings up her fourth ODI fifty vs South Africa and her 27th overall in the format with a lovely BOUNDARY through mid off. She finishes the over with a boundary through the same area. There was a close call in the middle, with the ball edged to slips where there was no personnel to capitalise. Good over for India. The India vice captain’s purple patch continues.

Anneke Bosch is the new bowler. A dot and a close chip to midwicket later, Smriti Mandhana frees her arms as she gets the ball through mid off for FOUR. Brings up her fifty. Her fourth against South Africa and her 27th overall. She then edges the ball which ends up going to a slip cordon without anyone there. She finishes the over with a nice boundary, goes over mid off once more. 

Harmanpreet is the new batter. Mlaba returns. Couple of dots including one where she beat Mandhana who went down on one knee and held her pose for a bit trying to figure out what happened. An attempted slog sweep thankfully not gone wrong, even if unsuccessful. Harman too has a close call, with the ball throwing a big edge but landing safelty. Just the one run from the over. 

Masbata Klaas in for her sixth over. Begins with two dots. Hemalatha gets a single. Klaas then goes into Smriti with a length ball. Smriti picks the length well and swipes this to midwicket. Britz stops the ball ahead of the ropes successfully this time, two runs. Smriti brings up the team hundred with a single through deep point. Hemalatha then goes down on one knee as she tries to go big yet again, but has made a mess of the contact. Big top edge and Anneke Bosch takes the catch wide of slip. The keeper was also coming for it, but Bosch calls it. Relief for Wolvaardt. 

WICKET Dayalan Hemalatha c Bosch b Klaas 24 (41b 1x4 2x6) SR: 58.53

Shanghase returns. Starts with a wide. Hemalatha then hits a six. Nicely swatted over deep midwicket for SIX. Between middle and leg stump this ball and Hemalatha has sent this to the stands. Shanghase pulls back with a back of a length delivery, almost catches the ball off her own bowling, but it runs away straight down for a single. Smriti Mandhana finds the boundary now, giving herself room by going on the backfoot to punch this to extra cover for FOUR. Another good over for India, 15 runs coming off it. The pair here is evidently accelerating. Pressure on Wolvaardt and Co. 

Masabata Klaas replaces Khaka now from the other end. A dot to start after which there’s some nervy running to get two, by Mandhana. She didn’t look ready for that second run, but no harm done at the end of it as Hemalatha scurries to the crease. Smriti then slices it, gets a massive height here but manages to clear the infield safely. Two runs. Two more runs come off the over. 

Shanghase introduced now and Hemalatha welcomes her with a nice big SIX over long on. Lovely bat swing. One of our colleagues in the office says, “It’s like watching Sourav Ganguly, but right-handed”

Hemalatha likes taking on off-spin but Shaghase pulls things back, trying to get the ball into the right hander. Just two more runs after that six have been given. Eight off the over. 

Shanghase looked like she was handed the ball, but that interruption changed something in Wolvaardt’s mind as Khaka resumes her spell. Keeps her lines tight as Mandhana gets Hemalatha on strike with a single through deep backward square. Dane van Niekerk on comms says that she would use her part-time bowlers here and save her main bowlers for later in the innings to test the Indian batting lineup. Khaka gives away a wide. But quiet over overall. Just three runs from the over. 

Peak Bangalore weather -- Umpires call for the covers when it starts drizzling. Rain stops even before the covers are halfway in. Match has resumed without any delay.

Players are off the field as the covers come on. OH WAIT. Five seconds later, the COVERS ARE OFF. Bengaluru, you need to make up your mind! 

Smriti Mandhana uses her feet as she lofts the ball over the mid on fielder for FOUR. Smooth hitting from the India opener. She follows it up with another attempt usin her feet, this time making room to swipe the ball over mid-on. FOUR. With momentum on her side, she tries to get the ball to backward point fence but it’s fielded. Three singles follow the two boundaries as Mlaba tries to reign in the scoring. Smriti’s picked her lengths perfectly in this over to get 11 runs added to the score. Need more such overs. The current partnership now up to 26 runs from 38 balls. 

Khaka returns. The pacer has two maidens but this one won’t be her third, with Smriti pushing the ball to the offside for a single. She goes into Hemalatha’s pads and the Indian batter defends as she tries to find a way to score. Khaka ends the over with a wide-ish rising delivery which Hemalatha is happy to cut square of the wicket. Tazmin Brits gets to the ball and tries to kick it away from the ropes but in vain. FOUR. 

That’s technically 12 out of 16 overs without a run. Incredible bowling from South Africa and they’ve shown incredible discipline on the field as well, barring that blip from Sune Luus in the slip cordon. Can they capitalise and send back a few more Indian personnel?

Mlaba returns for her fourth over. Smriti Mandhana is holding fort on one side. Mlaba bowls to her around the wicket. Just the one run from this over, a single for Mandhana on the leg side. 

Time for drinks.

Nadine de Klerk comes in for her fourth over and a lot of movement for her from this wicket. DROPPED CATCH here as Sune Luus puts Hemalatha down at first slip. Variable bounce on offer here for Nadine de Klerk. Unlucky not to finish this over with a scalp. Hemalatha given a lifeline on 3.

Nonkululeko Mlaba returns. A superb over, would have been a maiden, but Hemalatha manages a single off the last ball to maintain strike. She oscillated between full and short deliveries to Mandhana in particular. 

Nadine de Klerk in her for her third. Smriti Mandhana goes on the backfoot to this short delivery up front and cuts the ball for FOUR. A few deliveries later, there’s a big lbw appeal for Hemalatha but the umpire isn’t interested. Struck her on the pads as she tried to dispatch the ball to the leg side. Safe. Just two additional runs from India. If SA had reviewed, the ball was going into the leg stump, but umpire’s call would have saved Hemalatha anyway. 

Nonkululeko Mlaba comes back for her second over and she strikes! Shafali Verma begins with a four over the bowler’s head. But Mlaba has the last laugh with Shafali trying to swish unsuccessfully, producing a big top edge and holing out to Masabata Klaas at mid-on.

WICKET Shafali Verma c Klaas b Mlaba 20 (38b 3x4 0x6) SR: 52.63

Hemalatha is the new batter in and sees the over off carefully. 

A very sedate start this from India. South African fielders are a cheery bunch, they know they’ve followed the plan perfectly. Nadine de Klerk in for her second over. There’s a wide-ish slip in place with the bowlers getting a lot of movement. Just five runs from the over. 

First power play up as its been a slow one for India. Just a single run in this over.

That was a shot filled with frustration as Shafali hits it towards the onside for a four. But that was all from this over.

That was a long over. Three wides off of Klaas’ bowling as India gets a few more singles. New bowler Nadine de Klerk comes in.

Khaka gives away a wide on the first ball as wicketkeeper Meike de Ridder fails to collect, allowing the Indian batters to run a single. Smriti joins the party as she pulls towards square leg for a boundary. She takes a single to retain the strike.

Smriti gets off the mark with a single as slaps the ball towards fine leg. Shafali tries to go for the pull shot but the ball finds the edge, bounces, and goes behind to the wicketkeeper. Next ball, Shafali takes the same route and finds success. The ball takes flight and finds the boundary. The first for India.

Great footwork from Brits at the boundary line to prevent the ball from crossing the ropes and giving India its first four of the match. This fielding effort restricts the batters to just two runs. Smriti is yet to get off the mark. She’s faced 16 balls.

This one too would have been a maiden if it wasn’t for the wide ball outside the leg stump. The movement of the ball looks to be the reason why Smriti and Shafali are treading cautiously.

A very slow start for the Indian openers. Another maiden from Khaka as Shafali defends her way through these six balls.

Masabata Klaas comes in to bowl. Bit of movement in the first ball itself as Shafali’s bat survives a scare as the ball whizzed past the edge to the wicketkeeper. Great bit of fielding from the players standing near point, stopping Smriti’s drive from reaching the boundary. Just the single run from the over.

A maiden to start for South Africa. Great start for Khaka as she prevents Smriti from getting any runs on the board.

It’s Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma for India to start off their batting. Ayabonga Khaka to start off things for South Africa.

South Africa XI: Laura Wolvaardt (c), Tazmin Brits, Anneke Bosch, Sune Luus, Marizanne Kapp, Nadine de Klerk, Nondumiso Shangase, Meike de Ridder (wk), Masabata Klaas, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Ayabonga Khaka

India XI: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Dayalan Hemalatha, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Asha Sobhana

Good choice on a chase-friendly ground like Chinnaswamy. Good to have a target in mind given SA is the slightly dwindling batting unit as well. 

The last two days, they’ve been rolling it really well. Looks a good track. India’s spinners were running through the South African line-up in the last game. I think it won’t take as much spin today. There’ll be a lot more runs on offer. If I was the captain, I would chase.

One upside will be that the Proteas will have a full squad to choose from. Pacer Nadine de Klerk, in the pre-match briefing, said that the illness that had kept at least three women from playing Sunday’s game, including herself, was a thing of the past. The 24-year-old, however, was tight-lipped about Kapp’s return to bowling following a back injury.

This being a weekday fixture, there may not be that many supporters in the stands. The ones who do turn up will seek their money’s worth while all along hoping for the rain to stay away like it has all week.

N Sudarshan’s full match preview here: 

IND-W vs SA-W, 2nd ODI: India looks to seal series vs South Africa with focus on top-order batters

India will expect its top-order batters to produce a tidier effort against South Africa in the second women’s ODI here on Wednesday in its quest for an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

India:
- Form of Shafali Verma
- Constant changes to the number 3 slot - Is it Hemalatha or Richa?
- Fielding, still not as clean as one would expect
- Pooja Vastrakar’s fitness

South Africa:
- Top order’s form
- Marizanne Kapp’s workload - Pacers Khaka and Klaas did a good job, but got defensive at the drop of a hat, a change in perspective here might help?
- Laura Wolvaardt’s form, SA needs her to drop anchor up top in this format

It was a true-blue RCB show at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in the first ODI with Smriti Mandhana and Asha Sobhana guiding India to massive 143-run win over South Africa. 

Here’s the match report by our correspondent N. Sudarshan

IND-W vs SA-W: Mandhana, Asha Sobhana hand India massive 143-run win, take 1-0 lead in three-match ODI series

The lone bit of worry for India will be the injury to Pooja, who went off the field in the 18th over of South Africa’s chase after seemingly injuring her left knee.

It’s warm and humid. Plenty of clouds around but nothing threatening so far. 

Two debuts were handed out right in the first game in Asha Sobhana for India and Annerie Dercksen for South Africa. Here’s what both contingents for this ODI series look like:

INDIA: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (WK), Uma Chetri (WK), Dayalan Hemlatha, Radha Yadav, Asha Sobhana, Shreyanka Patil, Saika Ishaque, Pooja Vastrakar, Renuka Singh Thakur, Arundhati Reddy, Priya Punia.

SOUTH AFRICA: Laura Wolvaardt (c), Anneke Bosch, Tazmin Brits, Nadine de Klerk, Annerie Dercksen, Mieke de Ridder, Sinalo Jafta, Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, Suné Luus, Eliz-Mari Marz, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Tumi Sekhukune, Nondumiso Shangase, Delmi Tucker.

The second ODI between India Women and South Africa Women will be broadcast on the Sports18 network and DD Sports in India. The live streaming for this match will be available through the JioCinema app and website.