Women's Tri Nation Series: Sneh Rana, Pratika Rawal help India beat South Africa

The experienced Sneh Rana and the young Pratika Rawal impressed as India beat South Africa by 15 runs in their second match of the Women's Tri Nation Series at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Tuesday.

Having opted to bat first, India rode on a second consecutive half century from opener Rawal to post 276/6 in their allotted quota of 50 overs.

South Africa threatened to run away with the match as opener Taznim Brits hit a solid century before Rana derailed the chase with a five-wicket haul to bowl out the Proteas women for 261 with four balls to spare.

Here are the talking points from the match:

Pratika continues her red hot form

Pratika Rawal continued her dream introduction to international cricket, hitting her sixth half-century in just her eighth match.

She stitched a 83-run opening stand with vice-captain Smriti Mandhana before the latter was prized out for 36 by Annerie Dercksen.

Despite's Mandhana's wicket, Rawal continued to make merry and brought up her half-century. She added 68 runs for the second wicket with Harleen Deol, who looked a bit tentative in the middle.

Rawal scored 78 runs off 91 deliveries with seven boundaries and a six before being cleaned up by Nonkululeko Mlaba.

She also became the fastest Indian - across men's and women's cricket - to reach 500 ODI runs, touching the mark in just eight innings. It also made her the second fastest in the world behind South Africa's Janneman Malan (7 innings) and the fastest in women's cricket history.

Middle order propels India to a fighting total

After a bit of slump as India lost both Rawal and Deol within a span of three runs, the women in blue fought back to post a competitive total.

Jemimah Rodrigues with a 32-ball 41 injected some life into the innings before Richa Ghosh did what she does best, scoring a 14-ball 24 with three boundaries and a six.

Though both of them failed to carry their bat through, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (41*) ensured that she stayed in the middle till the end and avert the danger of any collapse.

South Africa's stunning opening stand

South Africa started the chase in a dominating fashion as captain Laura Wolvaardt and Taznim Brits stitched a 140-run opening run stand in 27.5 overs.

It looked as if the duo will run away with the match in a quick time before Deepti Sharma had Wolvaardt trapped leg before wicket for a 75-ball 45.

Taznim Brits hits a century

Brits, however, continued to march on despite losing wickets at regular intervals on the other end.

She hit 13 boundaries and three sixes in her 107-ball 109, hitting the Indian bowlers all across the park before being scalped up by Sneh Rana in the 48th over.

Five-wicket haul for Sneh Rana

Rana was the tormentor-in-chief for India, finishing the match with figures of 5-43 in ten overs.

The off-spinning all-rounder effectively derailed the South African chase when she struck thrice with the 48th over of the second innings and her last over of the match.

Her victims in the over included centurion Brits, the dangerous Dercksen, who scored 30 off 20, and Nadine de Klerk.

She had earlier sent back Lara Goodall and Chloe Tryon.

Rana was deservedly named Player of the Match.