India continued its dominance
over South Africa when the hosts beat the visitors by five wickets on Friday at
Reliance Stadium, Vadodara. Winning the toss and electing to field first, India
restricted South Africa to 247-6 in 50 overs. Opening bat Laura Wolvaardt top
scored with a patient 69 (98) and received good support from her opening
partner Lizelle Lee (40), together stitching a solid 76 run opening
partnership. In the middle overs, Mignon du Preez (44) and Lara Goodall (38)
played some fantastic cricket to take the South African score past 200. With
the ball, India’s veteran pacer Jhulan Goswami failed to pick up any wickets.
Shikha Pandey alongwith the spin twins Ekta Bisht and Poonam Yadav struck with
two scalps each.
India’s highest ODI run chase
also came against the Proteas when they chased down the target of 245. On
Friday, the Women in Blue created a new record as they went on the chase 247 quite
comfortably. Riding on mellifluous half centuries of skipper Mithali Raj (66)
and Punam Raut (65), India managed to win the game with two overs to spare. Harmanpreet
Kaur provided just the right finish as she struck a delightful 39 (27) which included
five smooth hits to the fence and one ferocious one over it. With dollops of
hardwork put together by the Indian batters who kept the South African bowlers
at bay, India created history on Friday.
The two sides will meet on Monday
at the same venue for the last and final ODI of the three-match ODI series. India
has taken an unassailable lead of 2-0 and the Monday match will be nothing more
than a dead rubber.
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