Anne Bosch and Sune Luus played knocks of 66 and 43 respectively as South Africa defeated India by eight wickets in the first T20I of the three-match series here at the Ekana Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
With this win, have gained a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Both teams will now lock horns in the second T20I on Sunday.
Chasing 131, Proteas did not get off to an ideal start as the visitors ended up losing the wicket of Lizelle Lee (8) in the third over of the innings. Arundhati Reddy provided the first breakthrough to India.
Skipper Sune Luus then joined Anne Bosch in the middle and the duo revived the innings for the visitors. Both batters put on 90 runs for the second wicket, but with 27 runs away from the target, Luus (43) ended up losing her wicket to Harleen Deol.
In the end, Bosch (66*) and Laura Wolvaardt (9*) took Proteas over the line by eight wickets with five balls to spare.
Earlier, Harleen Deol played a knock of 52 runs off 47 balls as India posted a total of 130/6 in the allotted twenty overs. Asked to bat first, India got off to a bad start as skipper Smriti Mandhana (11) was sent back to the pavilion by Shabnim Ismail in just the second over of the innings.
Shafali Verma and Harleen then put on 45 runs for the second wicket, but as soon as the hosts started running away with the game, Proteas got the wicket of Shafali (23) in the 10th over, reducing India to 56/2.
Jemimah Rodrigues then joined Harleen in the middle and both batters stitched a partnership of 60 runs for the third wicket, but in looking for big runs, both Rodrigues (30) and Harleen (52) ended up losing their wickets. In the end, the hosts had to settle for a score of just 130.
Brief Scores: India Women 130/6 (Harleen Deol 52, Jemimah Rodrigues 30, Shabnim Ismail 3-14); South Africa Women 133/2 (Anne Bosch 66*, Sune Luus 43, Arundhati Reddy 1-20).
( With inputs from ANI )
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