Durban, Apr 17 (PTI): South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt punished a wayward Indian bowling attack to script a clinical six-wicket win in the Women’s T20 series opener here on Friday.
With the bat too, India never got the momentum they needed to end up with 157 for seven.
The visitors were indisciplined with the ball, conceding 14 runs in wides as South Africa coasted to the target in 19.1 overs. Wolvaardt (51 off 39 balls) laid the platform for a convincing win.
Annerie Dercksen (44 not out off 34) completed the job for the home team with a power-packed effort.
The second game of the five-match series will be played here on Sunday.
The series serves as a warmup for both teams ahead of the T20 World Cup in the UK in a couple of months.
India, who have won their last four series, clearly have work to do going into the next game.
Spinners Shreyanka Patil and Shree Charani were effective but the pacers let the team down. Arundhati Reddy was all over the place and given due treatment by the South Africa batters.
The Indian lower-order too failed to deliver in the last five overs, resulting in India putting up a below-par total.
Shreyanka got the early breakthrough of Sune Luus but the pressure was released from the other end. Wolvaardt did not look back after dispatching Deepti Sharma for three boundaries in the fourth over.
Shreyanka returned to the attack and instantly sent back Wolvaardt but the damage was already done. Chloe Tyron ended the game with a six off Deepti.
Earlier, India got off to a flier with Shafali Verma (34 off 20) leading the their charge.
Shafali struck five fours and a straight six off spinner Sune Luus in her cameo after being dropped at mid-off in the second over of the innings.
Her more accomplished opening partner Smriti Mandhana (13 off 14), did not last long and was caught at cover after failing to get the aerial distance on her drive off South Africa’s lead pacer Ayabonga Khaka.
The fall of two wickets late in the powerplay put the brakes on India’s scoring rate.
Harmanpreet Kaur (47 not out off 33) and Jemimah Rodrigues (36 off 29) shared a 71-run stand off 51 balls in the middle overs to take the innings forward. They opted for a cautious approach post the powerplay as India laboured to 75-2 in 10 overs.
The pressure was released in the 12th over when Harmanpreet hammered pacer Nadine de Klerk for a six and four. Rodrigues followed it up with a straight six of left-arm spinner Chloe Tyron in the next over.
The final flourish in the last five overs never came despite the presence of Harmanpreet. The last 30 balls yielded only 33 runs with the loss of three wickets.
Besides Khaka, pacer Tumi Sekhukhune also impressed by getting timely wickets of Shafali and Rodrigues.
Nonkululeko Mlaba was the pick of the spinners.
India handed a T20 debut to Kashvee Gautam. PTI BS AM AM
(This story is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)
