Indian Women suffer massive defeat to South Africa in final T20I, win series 3-1

The South Africa Women's Cricket side inflicted a heavy defeat upon the Indians in the sixth and final T20I at Surat, winning by a massive target of 105 runs.

Led by the opening duo of Lizelle Lee and Sune Luus, who put on a 144-run stand for the first wicket, the Proteas finished with a competitive 175 on a sluggish wicket that was only getting slower. While Lee scored 84 in 47 deliveries, her partner Luus smashed 62 from 56.

The batters were particularly severe on pacer Mansi Joshi, who conceded 25 in the first two overs. The early momentum allowed the visitors to rack up 57 in the first six overs, and the onslaught continued till the 16th over, when Poonam Yadav finally broke the stand, getting Lee with a clever googly.

The Indians returned into the game in the last few overs, as they gave away just 21 runs in the last three for two wickets. One of the wickets was scalped by Harmanpreet Kaur, who was turning out in her 100th T20I - the only Indian to get there.

In reply, the Indians succumbed to 4 for 2 in the first three overs itself, and from thereon, it was a long battle. Harmanpreet, walking out to bat after Shefali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues had been sent back early, was unable to replicate her exploits from the last game, getting dismissed for just 1.

India soon lost Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma, and at 13 for 5, the game was all but over. Taniya Bhatiya walked out, only to walk back in a jiffy, leaving the side in tatters at 13 for 6.

Veda Krishnamurthy and Arundhati Reddy did steady the ship, adding 49 runs for the seventh wicket, but the damage had been done upfront. India eventually were bowled out for 70, losing the last four wickets for the addition of eight runs.

India won the series 3-1, with the second and third games having been abandoned due to rain.

Brief Scores: South Africa Women 175/3 in 20 overs (Lizelle Lee 84, Sune Luus 62) beat India Women 70 in 17.3 overs (Veda Krishnamurthy 26; Nadine de Klerk 3-18) by 105 runs.