South Africa Women has chased down a mammoth 275 runs in the last match of the group stage at ICC Women’s CWC 2022 to show India the exit door of the tournament.
India Women needed to win against the Proteas to secure a berth in the semifinal of Women’s CWC 2022. At halfway in the match, Indian victory was definitely on the cards as Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, and Mithali Raj notched up half-centuries to propel Indis to 274/7 in 50 overs.
South Africa pulled a majestic effort to end India’s hopes. Laura Wolvaardt played beautifully to control the chase for South Africa. The Proteas did stumble in the last 10 overs but kept the nerves under control to pull off an exciting morale-boosting victory on the 2nd last ball of the 50th over.
Here’s how the match panned out:
Mithali Raj, the Indian captain, won the toss and chose to bat first to put scoreboard pressure on the opposition. Responding in affirmative to their captain’s call, the Indian openers, Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana, provided India with a blitzing start. The duo added 91 in 15 overs before dangerous Shafali was found short on her crease by Chetty to provide a much-needed breakthrough to South Africa.
Yastika Bhatia soon also got dismissed, and Proteas made their stride back into the match. However, South Africa was stopped in its track by the duo of Mithali and Mandhan. The two formed an 80 run stand for the third wicket to take India from 96-2 to 176-3 in 32 overs. Mandhana scored a brilliant 71 off 84, consisting of 6 fours and a six.
India again successfully crafted a partnership with the pair of Mithali and Kaur, adding 56 runs for the 4th wicket. Mithali scored 68, while Kaur managed 48 but failed to accelerate the Indian innings in the death overs. Ultimately India set up a 275 runs target for the Proteas.
Chasing 275, South Africa Women suffered an early blow at 14 in the form of Lizelle Lee. However, India failed to build the momentum, and Wolvaardt with Goodall created a 125 runs stand for the 2nd wicket. Goodall contributed a significant 49 runs, while Wolvaardt blasted 80 off 79, including 11 fours.
After Wolvaardt’s departure, South Africa Women kept losing wickets at regular intervals but also managed to keep up the scoring rate. Mignon du Preez scored an unbeaten 52* to snatch the victory in a last-over thriller.
Nerve-wracking 50th over
The equation was 7 off 6 with Preez and Chetty in the middle in 50th over. Deepti Sharma was tasked with bringing victory to India’s way. The first ball resulted in a single, followed by a single and run out on the second ball.
The third ball again resulted in a single, with the fourth ball producing the same result as well. The fifth ball was a God’s gift to South Africa as Deepti overstepped and bowled a no-ball to concede a single of that. South Africa required only 1 off the last 2 deliveries, which they quickly pulled off to oust India Women from the tournament.
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