Welcome to the highlights of the 1st T20I between India Women and South Africa Women from the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow.
Match result: India 130-6 in 20 overs lose to South Africa 133-2 in 19.1 overs
A tough start for India in the T20I series opener and they have under 24 hours to recover and level the series. South Africa will be elated with that start and will want to close out the series in the second game on Sunday.
Join us for that on Sunday. Until then, its Goodbye and Good Night.
Player of the match, Anneke Bosch: I can't still come to terms I scored a 50 in ODIs. Credit to the bowlers for restricting India. Sune keeps me calm. I am happy with the two wickets.
SA captain, Sune Luus: There is always something we can improve on. We did well to pull it back to 130, they looked good to make 140-150. This ground is a high-scoring one. We were happy to restrict India to 130. When the run-rate goes over 6, you look at the one boundary an over. We have worked hard in our T20I skills.
India captain, Smriti Mandhana: (On injury) At the moment, it looks better, but lets see. We fought really well, the way we were placed in the 17th or 18th over,we were 10 runs short. Need to work on our fielding. Simran bowled brilliantly. There are a lot of youngsters in this setup. The future looks good, but we have to buck up ourselves and fight back.
Summary: India dismissed Lee early in their defense of 130 runs, but Anneke Bosch and captain Sune Luus put on 90-runs for the second wicket, which turned the game in their favour. Harleen removed Luus, but Bosch, along with Laura Woolvardt ensured there was no more damage done and took their side home by eight wickets.
Yet another poor day in the office for India, who will need a change in fortunes ahead of the second T20I on Sunday. Stay tuned for the post match presentation.
South Africa 133 for 2 in 19.1 overs: South Africa go 1-0 up in the T20I series. Short ball from Reddy and Bosch, fittingly, smashes the ball to the mid-wicket boundary.
South Africa 129 for 2 in 19 overs: That over has all but sealed the win for South Africa. Gayakwad's poor day continues as she concedes 12 runs in that over.
South Africa 117 for 2 in 18 overs: A misfield from Richa Ghosh gives South Africa a crucial boundary under the circumstances. Eight runs from that Harleen over.
South Africa 109 for 2 in 17 overs: Five runs coming from that Simran over. South Africa needs 22 runs. India needs wickets, in clumps.
South Africa 104 for 2 in 16 overs: WICKET! Luus smashes a catch back at the bowler, Harleen Deol and she takes a sharp chance of the last ball of her over. Finally India breaks, what looks like a match-winning stand between Bosch and Luus
South Africa 100 for 1 in 15 overs: South Africa hit the 100-run mark in their run chase. India is staring at a big defeat in this first T20I and needs something dramatic to happen soon. 10 runs from that Deepti Sharma over.
South Africa 90 for 1 in 14 overs: An expensive over from Simran. 10 runs coming from it, including two fours.
Under 50 runs needed for South Africa for victory.
South Africa 80 for 1 in 13 overs: Gayakwad begins her new spell with a tidy over, conceding just four runs.
South Africa 76 for 1 in 12 overs: Economical couple of overs from Simran. But India needs a wicket, maybe more than that at this stage. Four runs coming from that over.
South Africa 72 for 1 in 11 overs: Expensive start from Harleen. Nine runs from her first over.
South Africa 63 for 1 in 10 overs: Two runs from Simran's first over.
The debutant Simran Bahadur into the attack.
Smriti Mandhana is back on the field.
South Africa 61 for 1 in 9 overs: Back to back productive overs for the visitors as Bosch and Luus take 10 runs from that Poonam over. India, under the pump here.
South Africa 51 for 1 in 8 overs: Poor over from Deepti Sharma with 12 runs coming from it.
South Africa 39 for 1 in 7 overs: Three runs from Yadav's first over.
Poonam Yadav into the attack.
South Africa 36 for 1 in 6 overs: Economical start from Deepti. Four runs coming from her first over.
Smriti Mandhana seems to have twisted her right ankle, while trying to pick up the ball, after stopping it. She is being taken off the field by the physio. Deepti Sharma will lead India, until Mandhana returns.
Under 100 runs needed for South Africa.
Deepti Sharma replaces Gayakwad in the attack.
South Africa 32 for 1 in 5 overs: An over that began with one run and three dots ends with a six and a four from Luus's bat. Expensive one for India.
South Africa 21 for 1 in 4 overs: Back to back profligate overs from Gayakwad, with seven runs coming from her second over.
South Africa 14 for 1 in 3 overs: Just 1 run and a wicket from that Reddy over.
South Africa in 2.3 overs: WICKET! India gets the early breakthrough. Lee goes for the aerial shot, no timing on that and it is caught be Simran at mid-on. She is out for 8 off Reddy's bowling.
South Africa 13 for 0 in 2 overs: An expensive start fro Gayakwad with nine runs coming from her first over.
Rajeshwari Gayakwad, who bowled so splendidly in the final ODI, to share the new ball with Reddy.
South Africa 4 for 0 in 1 over: A four of the first ball, but India will be gutted to give Lee a life with Deepti Sharma dropping the ball of the last ball.
Lizelle Lee and Anneke Bosch to open for South Africa. Arundhati Reddy with the new ball in hand.
SUMMARY: India will be a bit disappointed wit the way that innings ended. They lost Mandhana early in the Powerplay and then Verma fell soon later. Harleen and Jemimah put on a 50-run stand, but their dismissals left India with no momentum in the final few overs.
India will hope their bowlers can prevent South Africa from going 1-0 up in the T20I series.
India in 20 overs: WICKET! Back to back wickets for Ismail as Arundati Reddy lofts the ball into the hands of long-off. A third scalp of this innings for Ismail. A disappointing final few overs for India.
India in 19.5 overs: WICKET! Ghosh, going for the paddle shot, misses it completely and ball hits the stumps. Ismail continues her dream run in the last few overs.
Final over of the innings.
India 126 for 4 in 19 overs: Yet another over with a lot of binary code 1. Five of them in this over. India's innings starved of any momentum.
India 121 for 4 in 18 overs: What an over for South Africa as Bosch removes both the well-set batsmen and puts the visitors on top.
India in 17.3 overs: WICKET! Carbon copy of the previous dismissal. This time it is Jemimah, who lofts the ball high in the air and it is caught by Ismail at long-on.
India in 17.1 overs: WICKET! Harleen falls for 52. Trying to force the issue, she goes for the aerial shot and is caught at long-on by Shabnim Ismail off the bowling of Bosch. Vital wicket for SA.
India 116 for 2 in 17 overs: India unable to find the flourish it needs in the last few overs of this innings. Yet again, just six singles coming from it.
India in 16.2 overs: A maiden T20I fifty for Harleen Deol. She reaches the landmark in 44 balls.
India 110 for 2 in 16 overs: Just six singles from that over. South Africa will be happy with that result, at this stage of the innings.
Harleen and Jemimah put on 50 runs for the third wicket, in 40 balls.
Final five overs of this innings.
India 104 for 2 in 15 overs: A very good over for India with 10 runs coming from it.
India 94 for 2 in 14 overs: Jemimah gets a move-on to her innings with a boundary and a brace from that over. Twin wides down the leg side and a single made it nine runs from that over for India.
Ismail back for a second spell.
India 85 for 2 in 13 overs: Good over for India, with eight runs coming from it. Harleen into her 40s
An interesting moment occurred in the 12th over, when Wolvaardt fired in a throw from point, the ball hit the stumps and replays suggested that Deol's bat had not been grounded inside the crease and was in the air, when the ball hit the stumps. NO ONE IN THE FIELD APPEALED AND HARLEEN RECEIVED A LET-OFF.
India 77 for 2 in 12 overs: Six singles from that de Klerk over.
India 71 for 2 in 11 overs: An expensive over Luus as Deol strikes two fours and that, coupled with a few singles and an extra, makes it 13 runs from that over. Can that over give India the momentum it needs?
India 58 for 2 in 10 overs: At the halfway mark, India is going under a run a ball. Deol is joined by Jemimah Rodrigues in the middle. Just two runs coming from that Mlaba over.
India in 9.1 overs: WICKET! Shafali is out stumped. She jumps out to go for a big shot, misses the ball and is stumped easily by Jafta off the bowling of Mlaba.
India 56 for 1 in 9 overs: Shafali Verma gives the Indian innings the much-needed impetus with a lofted boundary towards long-off. Profitable over for India, with seven runs coming from it.
India 49 for 1 in 8 overs: Back to back good overs for the visitors as Luus starts with just three runs in her first over.
Captain Sune Luus into the attack. She is three short of 50 T20I wickets for South Africa.
India 46 for 1 in 7 overs: Five singles from Khaka's second over. Good one for South Africa.
India 41 for 1 in 6 overs: A productive over for India as Deol grows in confidence with two consecutive boundaries of the first two balls. Verma makes it a third four, albeit a streaky one as the ball takes the inside edge and goes for four. 14 runs from that over and it ends the Powerplay as well.
A double change for South Africa. Nadine de Klerk replaces Ismail.
India 27 for 1 in 5 overs: Deol gets her first four of this innings with a lofted flick over mid-wicket. Backs that with a single of the next ball. Five runs coming from Khaka's first over.
Ayabonga Khaka into the attack, in place of Nonkululeko Mlaba.
India 22 for 1 in 4 overs: Economical over from Ismail. Just three runs coming from it.
India 19 for 1 in 3 overs: First six of the Indian innings, coming from the bat of Shafali Verma as the right-hander dances down the track and lofts the ball over mid-off for the maximum.
India 12 for 1 in 2 overs: Ismail gets South Africa the first breakthrough, sending Mandhana back to the pavilion. Just one run coming from the other five deliveries.
Harleen Deol walks in at 3.
India in 1.3 overs: WICKET! The hosts lose Mandhana early. The southpaw goes aerial, has no timing on it and it is taken well on mid-off by Anneke Bosch.
Shabnim Ismail to share the new ball with Mlaba.
India 11 for 0 in 1 over: Mandhana gets India off to a fine start with two boundaries, one past the third-man fielder and the other between the third-man and point fielder.
Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma walk out to the middle. Nonkululeko Mlaba to start proceedings for South Africa.
India has handed a debut to Simran Dil Bahadur. The 21-year-old Delhi-born cricketer is a left-hand batsman and a right-arm medium pacer.
Teams: India: Smriti Mandhana (captain), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Harleen Deol, Nuzhat Parveen (wk), Simran Dil Bahadur, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Arundhati Reddy
SA: Laura Wolvaardt, Lizelle Lee, Sune Luus (capt), Mignon du Preez, Lara Goodall, Anneke Bosch, Sinalo Jafta (wk), Nadine de Klerk, Shabnim Ismail, Ayabonga Khaka, Nonkululeko Mlaba.
TOSS: South Africa has won the toss and opted to field in the first T20I
Smriti Mandhana will lead India in place of the injured Harmanpreet Kaur. The opening batter confirmed Kaur won't feature in the first T20I, on Friday.
Read : Smriti Mandhana hopeful of a fresh start in T20Is
5th ODI review and T20Is look ahead
The 50-over series between India and South Africa concluded on Wednesday, with the visitors once again chasing down a target, this time with five wickets in hand in the last ODI to clinch the series 4-1.
A two-day gap would have given a slightly new-look Indian team, time to ponder over and correct their mistakes, ahead of the first T20I on Saturday. As mentioned above, the T20I squad has some fresh faces with the likes of Shafali Verma joining the team.
Joining her will be the likes of Harleen Deol, Richa Ghosh and a few uncapped players, in the form of wicket-keeper Nuzhat Parveen, Ayushi Soni and Simran Dil Bahadur.
Monica Patel and C Prathyusha, both of whom debuted in the ODI series, are also part of the T20I squad.
South Africa has an unchanged squad to the one which was victorious in the ODIs and they will carry a lot of confidence into the shortest version and will hope that in-form batters like Lizelle Lee and Laura Wolvaardt and bowlers like Shabnim Ismail and Tumi Sekhukhune carry their ODI form into the T20I series, as well.
Quiet a few milestones was achieved when these two teams played in the ODI series. Here are some milestones that can be achieved during this T20I series.
Former India opener Wasim Jaffer was asked on social media about who he thought was the player to watch our for tonight.
WHAT THEY SAID : "The ODI series was a disappointment but we need to forget that and move ahead. Some new faces have come in the team, so we need to think fresh,” - Smriti Mandhana,, who will step in for Harmanpreet Kaur for the first T20I, spoke about beginning the T20I series, following the ODI series defeat, with a fresh mindset.
SQUADS: India: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Harleen Deol, Sushma Verma (wicket-keeper), Nuzhat Parveen (wicket-keeper), Ayushi Soni, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Mansi Joshi, Monica Patel, C. Prathyusha, Simran Dil Bahadur
South Africa: Sune Luus, Ayabonga Khaka, Shabnim Ismail, Laura Wolvaardt, Trisha Chetty, Sinalo Jafta, Tasmin Britz, Marizanne Kapp, Nondumiso Shangase, Lizelle Lee, Anneke Bosch, Faye Tunniclife, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Mignon du Preez, Nadine de Klerk, Lara Goodall, Tumi Sekhukhune
When does the match begin:
March 20, 7 pm IST
Where to watch:
India Women vs South Africa Women T20Is will be live on Star Sports 2 (and HD) and Star Sports 3 (and HD). The India Women vs South Africa Women ODIs will also be streamed online on Disney+Hotstar.
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