Live Score

05:28 PM IST and Local Time- We've had an absolute nail-biter of a contest here at Colombo and India Women have emerged victorious at the end of it by 15 runs as South Africa Women folded up for 261.  They were down and out at one stage when the South African openers had put up 140 runs for the opening stand but came back superbly in the second half of the run chase to pull off an absolute heist. 

Earlier on in the day, winning their second toss on a trot, India Women opted to bat first against South Africa Women. Openers, Pratika Rawal and Smriti Mandhana were observative at the start and went on to accumulate 43 runs inside the powerplay. The right and left-handed pair converted it into a 83-run opening stand before the southpaw perished for 36 in the 19th over. While Rawal went on to knit yet another half-century, Harleen Deol failed to convert their starts, albeit steering India to a stable position, courtesy of Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur’s (not out) 41 each. The Women in Blue were 213/4 at the start of the 43rd over before Richa Ghosh joined hands with Harmanpreet to lay the foundation of 276/6 in 50 overs.

The first powerplay of the run chase belonged thoroughly to South African Women as the opening duo of Tazmin Brits and Laura Wolvaardt took on the bowlers and picked up as many boundaries as they could. Brits in particular used her feet to good effect and scored a quick rate. 61 runs came from the first 10 overs and it created the pressure on the Indian bowlers. 

The Indian spinners started to sneak in the tidy overs and brought the run rate down to less than 6 runs per over beyond the powerplay but the pair of Wolvaardt and Brits continued to pile up the runs. The opening stand was worth 140 as Deepti Sharma finally got the breakthrough for India and dismissed Laura Wolvaardt. Laura Goodall was dismissed soon after as Sneh Rana came back into the attack got the breakthrough. 

Tazmin Brits carried on and got to a 100 but she retired hurt soon after. That opened the floodgates for India as they kept picking up the wickets one after the other. Sune Luus provided a brisk cameo for South Africa but there wasn't much support from the other end as the pressure rose. South Africa briefly seemed in control as Chloe Tryon and Annerie Dercksen build up a solid partnership but it was one over from Sneh Rana that changed the game completely. She picked up three wickets from her final over to clean up the lower middle order of South Africa and once that had been done, there was no coming back for the Proteas. 

Time for the Post-Match Presentation.

Sneh Rana (India Women) - " I was working on my variations and the target was to pick up the wickets for my team. It worked for me. Today it was a bit tougher in the second innings. We had a word with the captain and the management and we tried to take pace off the ball. I have always believed in delivering my best whenever I get the chance to play for my country and I'm really glad to have contributed today. Thank you." 

Harmanpreet Kaur( India Captain): "I think from the ball one, we were trying to give our 100 percent. We saved so many runs, that is why we were in the game. We were looking to get the first wicket, the moment we got that we knew the ball was turning and we would get more. We knew we could have gone close to 270-280. Maybe 10-15 runs more would've given us cushion. But I think our batters have given us a good score. I think our bowling partnership really helped us to win this game. Even though they had a 100-run partnership, we knew we were in this game. We didn't think that anyone ever gave up hope as they were diving here and there to be in the game. Thank you so much sir."