Mithali Raj's half-ton goes in vain as India lose to South Africa

The match became one-sided as South African openers Laura Wolvaardt (80, 110 balls, 12x4) and Lizelle Lee put on a dominating stand of 169. With the win just nine runs away, it was Jhulan Goswami’s twin blows that ensured India did not lose by 10 wickets.

It was not the type of outing the Indian women’s team had hoped for when they returned to international cricket after a year. 

In the first ODI at the Atal Behari Stadium, the rather rusty Indians were outplayed by clinical South Africa by eight wickets. 

One can say that the toss too played a vital role as the South African pace bowlers made good use of the early juice in the pitch after they opted to bowl. Once they got rid of Indian openers Jemimah Rodrigues and Smriti Mandhana cheaply, the home team were always playing the catching up game.  Banking on useful knocks by skipper Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur, India managed 177, But the target proved no challenge for the visitors and as the pitch eased out in the second half, South Africa were home with almost 10 overs to spare to make a winning start in the five-match series.

Dominant Proteas

The match became one-sided as South African openers Laura Wolvaardt (80, 110 balls, 12x4) and Lizelle Lee put on a dominating stand of 169. With the win just nine runs away, it was Jhulan Goswami’s twin blows that ensured India did not lose by 10 wickets.

Under the hot afternoon sun, the Indian bowlers toiled on an unresponsive pitch as the South African openers batted resolutely, be it against pace or spin. In fact, much was expected from spinners Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Deepti Sharma, but they could not dislodge Wolvaardt and Lee until the former fell leg before to a fine yorker by Goswami. 

Soon, captain Sune Luus was caught in the covers off the same bowler. But these strikes came too late in the day as Lee remained unbeaten on 83 off 122 balls with 11 fours and a six to ensure there were no further hiccups.

Hamanpreet chips in too

For India, there were just two substantial contributions, 50 by Mithali Raj and 40 by Hamanpreet. India required one of them to go on to play a big knock, but it was not to be and only Deepti Sharma with 27 provided some useful runs after the departure of the mainstays.

When India last played South Africa in late 2019, they had swept the three-match ODI series played in Vadodara. Moreover, head-to-head India were well ahead, having won 17 out of 22 matches before this game. So, one had expected India to dominate the South Africans. Now, they will have to show resilience and fight back in the second game on Tuesday. 

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