SAW vs INDW, 5th T20I Review: India wins the final game to win the series 3-1

Harmanpreet Kaur and her ladies registered yet another scintillating win in Cape Town which meant India won the T20I series 3-1. It was an all-round exhibition of brilliance from the Indian eves as the Proteas completely lost track. Mithali Raj won the player of the match and the player of the series award for her tremendous rendition.

Batting first, in-form opener Smriti Mandhana was dismissed very early in the innings. Marizanne Kapp sent her back in the 5th over of the game and the visitors were on the backfoot. But Mithali Raj and Jemimah Rodrigues stitched an outstanding partnership for the second wicket. Both players were very calculative with their approach.

Although runs didn’t come thick and fast initially, they managed to up the ante as the innings progressed. Barring Marizanne Kapp and skipper Van Niekerk, all the other bowlers were a little too expensive on the day. They kept bowling loose balls and the Rodrigues and Mithali kept lashing out hard.

Mithali completed yet another half-century and added more glory to an already illustrious career. Both players were inching closer towards a 100-run partnership but fell two runs short. Mithali was dismissed for a well-made 62 off 50 balls and in the next over, Rodrigues too walked back after scoring 44 off 34 balls.

The onus fell on the skipper Harmanpreet Kaur to finish the innings on a high. She did so quite brilliantly by stealing some boundaries with some intelligent approach. She finished a 17-ball 27 as India registered a decent 166 runs on the board. Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, and Shabnim Ismail picked up a wicket each for the hosts.

An easy defense of the target for the Indians

Indian bowlers managed to compliment their batswomen by defending the total quite easily. This game was expected to go down the wire, but as it turned out, it was one-sided. Proteas batters showed great resilience in the rain-marred game previously, but that wasn’t the case this time.

Rumeli Dhar picked up the prized-scalp of skipper Van Niekerk in the 4th over, which was quite a huge blow for the batting side. Shikha Pandey removed Sune Luus in the 5th over and Dhar came back with another wicket before the powerplay. Losing three wickets in the first 6 overs ain’t the right way to move forward and it was very evident in this game.

Mignon du Preez and Chloe Tryon tried to rescue them from this situation, but they couldn’t hang around for a long time. They could only add 20 runs together and once again they lost two wickets in quick succession, to push them into further trouble. Shikha Pandey took 2 wickets in the 9th over and they lost half their side.

Marizanne Kapp had some other ideas though, as she kept playing her shots at one end. The middle order batter smashed two sixes and a boundary en route a 21-ball 27, which was the only commendable effort coming from their side. Once again it was Rumeli Dhar chipping in with a crucial wicket, this time off Kapp.

After her loss, it didn’t take long for the Indians to wind things up. South Africa got bowled out for 112 in 18 overs and three Indian bowlers took 3-fors. Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shikha Pandey, and Rumeli Dhar were too good for the hosts and the Indian eves registered a comprehensive 3-1 win in the 5-match T20I series.

Brief Scores

India Women: 166/4 in 20 overs (Mithali Raj 62, Jemimah Rodrigues 44; Marizanne Kapp 1/22)

South Africa Women: 112 all out in 18 overs (Marizanne Kapp 27; Rajeshwari Gayakwad 3/26, Shikha Pandey 3/16, Rumeli Dhar 3/26)

Player of the match and series: Mithali Raj