In the opening match of the women's Tri-series including India, South Africa and the West Indies, the former defeated the Proteas by 27 runs at Buffalo Park in East London on January 19 (Thursday) and kick-started their campaign in style. In the absence of regular captain Harmanpreet Kaur, Smiriti Mandhana led the Women in Blue, but Deepti Sharma's all-around brilliance powered India to a commanding win. Deepti came out to bat at number six after South Africa asked India to bat first. The all-rounder played a handy cameo of 33 runs in 23 balls, including one four and one six and later backed up her batting performance with a three-wicket (3/30) with the ball.
From 69/5 to 147/6
India weathered a horrendous start with Mandhana (seven runs off seven balls), Harleen Deol (eight runs off nine balls), Jemimah Rodrigues (golden duck) and Devika Vaidya (nine runs off 16 balls) failing to register double-digit scores. Opener and wicketkeeper-batter Yastika Bhatia played a handy knock of 35 runs off 34 balls despite wickets falling at the other end. At one point, India were tottering at 69/5 in 11.4 overs but debutant Amanjot Kaur and Deepti registered a fabulous alliance of 76 runs for the sixth wicket to bail the team out of trouble. Kaur scored 41 not out off 30 balls with the help of seven boundaries and propelled India's total to a respectable 147/6.
Deepti leads with the ball
South Africa needed one stable partnership to chase down the target but Indian bowlers kept picking up wickets at regular intervals. Deepti bagged a three-for while Devika Vaidya (2/19) in three overs made a big difference for India. Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Sneh Rana and Radha Yadav bagged a wicket each as India restricted South Africa to 120/9 in 20 overs. For the Proteas, captain Sune Luus top-scored with 29 runs off 30 balls while Chloe Tryon (26 runs off 20 balls) and Marizanne Kapp (22 runs off 22 balls) all got starts but failed to register a substantial score.
