SA-W vs IND-W: Wolvaardt, Khaka set up six-wicket win for South Africa in Durban

South Africa women got off to a winning start in the five-match T20I series against India women, with a six-wicket victory in the first T20I on Friday, April 17 at Kingsmead, Durban. After being put in to bat first, India staggered their way to post 157/7 in their 20 overs with captain Harmanpreet Kaur (47* off 33), leading the way with her innings.

In reply, South Africa chased down the target in 19.1 overs, courtesy of a sublime half-century from captain Laura Wolvaardt. Earlier in the day, India got off to a good start as Shafali Verma (34 off 20) came out batting in top gear. However, her opening partner, Smriti Mandhana (13 off 14) struggled to get going. She eventually fell prey to Ayabonga Khaka trying to get a move on while Verma holed out against Tumi Sekhukhune (2/27). 

After the openers returned to the pavilion, Jemimah Rodrigues (36 off 29) and Harmanpreet Kaur (47* off 33) got together at the crease and forged a 71-run stand off 51 deliveries for the third wicket. It seemed as if the Women in Blue were well on course to breach the 180-run mark.

However, after Sekhukhune got rid of Jemimah, none of the other batters could support Harmanpreet as India only scored 38 runs from the last six overs, losing five wickets. 

In the second innings, Shreyanka Patil (2/26) got the early strike for India by shattering Sune Luus’ (13 off 7) stumps. However, captain Laura Wolvaardt continued to attack and stitched a 48-run stand with Tazmin Brits (10 off 13) for the second wicket.

Shree Charani got the second success for India, getting Brits stumped in the eighth over. But Wolvaardt was in no mood to slow down as she brought up her half-century off 36 deliveries. She found good support from Annerie Dercksen (44* off 34), with the duo adding 52 runs for the third wicket off 37 balls.

Just when South Africa were cruising, India got a glimmer of hope with two quick wickets as Wolvaardt holed out to deep mid-wicket against Shreyanka, while Anneke Bosch (8 off 6) was trapped in front by Arundhati Reddy (1/28).

However, Dercksen and Chloe Tryon (18* off 16) took South Africa over the line without much trouble with their unbeaten 29-run stand off 26 balls, sealing a six-wicket victory to go 1-0 up in the series.

Top run-scorer of the Match

Top wicket-taker of the Match

Player of the Match

Ayabonga Khaka was adjudged Player of the Match for her brilliant spell of 3/16 in four overs. She first got the big wicket of Smriti Mandhana in the powerplay and further dismissed Richa Ghosh and Arundhati Reddy to stop India from posting a big total.

Turning Point

India were eyeing a 180-plus total, being 119/2 after 14 overs. However, a collective bowling performance from South Africa triggered a collapse, with India losing five wickets in the last six overs and scoring just 38 runs. The phase eventually became the turning point of the match.

What did the captains say:

Winning Captain, Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa Women):

Yeah, great start. It's a really good all-round performance from the group. We were good in all three departments and it's actually the way we would like to start the series. (On the partnerships) The way Luus started, it really set up the chase for us. Annerie Dercksen batted excellently, took so much pressure off the chase. It was so nice to be run-a-ball, hitting like 40 off 30 to go. Would have liked to finish it a little bit earlier, but yeah, I think we broke the back of the chase pretty early, which was nice. (On her own batting) Yeah, I felt a lot better out there. I had a bit of a tough tour of New Zealand, but sort of just went back to basics a bit, sort of just try to stick to the things that I do well. And yeah, happy it all came together today. It was quite nice to bat under lights. I had to play some good cricket shots. (What happens between now and the next game?) I think rest up tomorrow. One of the keys today was how good we were energy wise. We were absolutely buzzing in the field. So, rest and recover and bring that same energy to the next game.

Losing Captain, Smriti Mandhana (India Women's stand-in skipper):

We definitely started well with the bat. Shafali really got going. We could not capitalise as a batting unit. But positives for us is that even though we lost our way in the bowling innings, we came back really well to take this match to the last over, speaks a lot about the players. A lot of learnings for sure. We've had one month almost after the Australia series. Everyone's getting into the groove, so I'm sure this match, we'll all go back and think about what we have to work on and come back stronger. Next match, day match, we had two sessions in the afternoon here when we came. So, I'm sure that all the girls will be well prepped. (On her batting) Been batting well in the nets, but couldn't come up today, got out unfortunately, but if you get out in a low score, you're always pumped to go out in the next match and again get a big one and win the match for the country.