IND-W vs SA-W Highlights, 3rd T20I: Vastrakar, Mandhana star in India’s 10-wicket win over South Africa

de Klerk continues. Short ball and Smriti times it well past point and gets a four. Another four! Fuller ball and she lofts it over mid off. Mandhana wants to finish in this over itself. And she does! Full toss picked over square leg for SIX! Brilliant way to end the series. 

Mlaba is back. South African bowlers are erring on the length. Too many short balls has allowed time to Smriti and Shafali to pull and find gaps. SIX! Mandhana comes down the track and smacks the ball towards midwicket. A single to end the over. 

Nadine de Klerk into the attack. Smriti slaps the ball towards deep point and gets a single. Shafali slogs, gets a top edge. The fielder at cover runs and dives but isn’t able to grab the ball. Easy singles on offer. Short ball and Smriti pulls over the short fine fielder and gets a boundary. Nine runs from the over. 

Chloe Tryon for her second over. Indians are getting easy singles. Smriti tries to make room but Tryon follows her, dot ball. Short ball, Smriti pulls towards midwicket and gets a single. 

Khaka continues. Full ball and Shafali lofts the ball over mid off for four! India trying to finish the chase as soon as possible. And Smriti ends the over with another boundary behind square leg. 

Nonkululeko Mlaba into the attack. FOUR! Smriti smacks a good length ball past the cover fielder. The intent has been pretty good by both Indian openers. Another boundary! Short ball and Smriti pulls it towards deep midwicket. A misfield in the deep gives Mandhana a boundary to add to her score. 

Eliz-Mari Marx is introduced into the attack. FOUR! Short ball and Shafali pulls it towards midwicket and gets a boundary. Outswinger on the length outside off, Shafali tries to hit it straight but is beaten. Takes out the short-arm jab this time and gets a four! Another short ball punished. Wide down the leg. Short ball and it is called a wide. Another pull but this time there’s a fielder there, only a single. 

Kapp continues. Outswing and Shafali drives but is fielded by cover fielder. Length ball, Shafali cuts past point for a single. Kapp keeping the ball on good length. Smriti gets one on the pads and she tucks it fine past short fine leg and gets a double. 

Chloe Tryon into the attack. Length ball outside off, no run. Similar length and line, Shafali tries to cut but is beaten. A bit of drift down the leg and Shafali pushes the ball towards midwicket for a single. Short ball, Smriti pulls but only for a single. Three singles in that over. 

Marizanne Kapp into the attack. She begins with the stump-line attack, bringing the ball into the left-hander. On the third ball though, she bowls the one that moves the other way! Beats Mandhana on the outside edge. Mandhana this time beats cover fielder inside the circle and gets a double. A quiet over, just two off it. 

Ayabonga Khaka with the new ball. Shafali takes the strike and takes a single on the first ball. Smriti Mandhana cuts past point and gets a four! Another boundary! Back-to-back fours for Smriti. Another length ball and this time she finds the gap between extra cover and cover. Takes a single on the last ball. 

Vastrakar comes back and does the job! That’s the final wicket that falls for South Africa. Marx with a heavy outisde edge. Uma Chetry wasn’t dropping that. 

Eliz-mari Marx c Uma Chetry b Vastrakar 7(8)

Pooja Vastrakar picks up her fourth wicket as India bowls South Africa out for 84. Radha with a three-wicket haul and a wicket each for Shreyanka, Arundhati and Deepti. 

Radha into the attack. OUT!! Jafta attempts to lift it down the ground but a brilliant diving catch by Arundhati to send her back. 

Sinalo Jafta c Arundhati Reddy b Radha Yadav 8(10)

Nonkululeko Mlaba is the new batter. But she doesn’t stay for long. OUT!! This time it is Sajana with a perfectly timed catch by the fielder in point. 

Mlaba c S Sajana b Radha Yadav 0(2)

Deepti to bowl out. Both Marx and Jafta seem more comfortable taking singles at the moment. Jafta lifts the ball but it lands short of long on. An appeal for LBW but no reactions. Four runs off the over. 

Arundhati to bowl her third. Slides down leg for a single. Jafta was looking to sweep but gets an edge. OUT!! Tryon, SA’s last hope for a competitive total, hits it straight up and Radha takes the catch safely. 

Chloe Tryon c Radha Yadav b Arundhati Reddy 9(16)

Eliz-mari Marx gets a much-needed boundary with an outside edge. Misses short third. 

Deepti into the attack. Two singles to start the over. SA will take any runs it can get as it attempts to rebuild. The Proteas still have hope with Chloe Tryon at the crease. NAd the ball goes high up in the air!! But it falls short of Vastrakar who was running towards it. 

Radha returns. Tryon takes a single, hitting the ball to deep square leg. Ouch! Radha gets hit by a throw from the field. She seems okay. OUT!! Dercksen gets hit on the pads and the umpire gives it. Player review taken but in vain! Radha gets her first wicket of the match!

Annerie Dercksen lbw b Radha Yadav 2 (7)

Jafta comes in to the crease. South Africa has now last all its reviews. Jafta defends the first ball and takes a single on the second. 

Shreyanka to bowl her third over. New batter in for the Proteas is Annerie Dercksen. A superb over by the spinner as she gives only two runs.

Vastrakar is back. Four!! Bosch starts strong after the drinks break and hits it past backward point. And that’s a big appeal for an LBW. South Africa takes the review. Wickets clearly hitting and umpire stays with his initial decision of OUT!!

Bosch lbw b Vastrakar 17(14)

de Klerk is the new batter in. Defends the first ball. OUT!! A thich outside edge and that’s the game for de Klerk. Leaves for a duck. Vastrakar now has three wickets. 

Deepti for her second over. Tryon takes a single on the first ball. Bosch sweeps but only for a single. Another attempt to sweep by Bosch, but is beaten. Now she decides to come down the track and hit the ball straight. Timing is good and gets a boundary. A single to end the over. 

Arundhati is back. A hint of swing into the right hander Tryon, she gets a leading edge into the gap of cover and extra cover for a single. Been a while since South Africa has managed to hit a boundary. A huge appeal for LBW against Tryon. Umpire says not out but India has taken a review. The ball came back in and beat Tryon on the inside edge. Ball tracking says wickets missing. Decision stays. A single to end the over. 

Deepti Sharma now. Bosch tries to sweep the first ball but is beaten. On the next ball she middles the sweep towards square leg, a slight misfield in the deep and the batters run a double. OUT! Brits is gone as well. Comes down the track and hits the ball straight mid off. A terrific diving catch by Harmanpreet. Brits goes for 20.

Chloe Tryon in at number five. ALMOST chips it straight to Deepti! Deepti dives but isn’t able to get hold off the ball. 

Radha Yadav into the attack now. Indian bowlers have tried to keep the ball in the stumps. Has worked so far. Just three singles in that over. 

Anneke Bosch in the new batter in. 

Shreyanka for her second over. Brits defends the first ball. FOUR! Brits gets down on the knees and sweeps the length ball behind square leg. Nice shot. Shreyanka sticking to the good length. And again! Similar length delivery and Brits sweeps past fine leg. Shreyanka comes around the wicket now. Nine runs from the over. 

Vastrakar is back. Length ball outside off and Brits is beaten as she tries to slash it. She takes a single on the next ball. Kapp is beaten on the frontfoot. A bit of lateral movement is there. Now Kapp lofts and just over the cover fielder to get a double. Didn’t time it that well. OUT! Kapp is gone. Length ball and she tries to pull it but ends up hitting straight to short midwicket fielder. 

Fourth bowler for India in as many overs. Shreyanka Patil into the attack. Wolvaardt comes down the track and ends up skying it straight to mid off. First wicket for India. Wolvaardt departs for nine.

Marizanne Kapp in at number three. Gets a down the leg delivery and guides the ball away for four past short fine leg. Good start to the innings. Shreyanka comes around the wicket to her. She plays a dot. Shreyanka once again switches to over the wicket. Good length outside off and Kapp cuts past point for another four. Eventful over that. 

Arundhati Reddy into the attack now. Starts off with a dot. An appeal for LBW on the second ball. Probably going down the leg as umpire shows no interest in the appeal. A hint of swing into the right hander, on the pads and Brits flicks it towards midwicket and gets a double. Just two runs off the over so far. One more ball left. Brits defends the incoming delivery. 

Sajana from the other end. Half-volley, Brits smacks a drive but a terrific fielding inside the circle cuts it to double. This time she finds the gap past the cover fielder. Similar delivery and gets a boundary. Pulls a shorter length delivery for a single towards midwicket. FOUR! This time its Wolvaardt. Full ball outside off and she lofts over cover. 

Vastrakar to Wolvaardt, single on the first ball towards long leg. Brits then tucks the ball behind square leg for a single. Back of the length and Wolvaardt pulls the ball towards midwicket for four! Similar length, just outside off and beats Wolvaardt on the outside edge. Another dot to end the over. 

Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits open the innings for South Africa. Pooja Vastrakar with the new ball. 

South Africa: Laura Wolvaardt(c), Tazmin Brits, Marizanne Kapp, Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Anneke Bosch, Annerie Dercksen, Eliz-mari Marx, Sinalo Jafta(w), Ayabonga Khaka, Nonkululeko Mlaba

India: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Deepti Sharma, Uma Chetry(w), S Sajana, Pooja Vastrakar, Shreyanka Patil, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav

India wins the toss and opts to bowl first. No change in India’s playing XI. South Africa too is playing the same XI. 

With scattered thunderstorms in the offing around match time, both teams will hope for some solid game time as the women’s international calendar gathers steam in the run-up to the World Cup in October.

India: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, S Sajana, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Uma Chetry (wk), Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, Arundhati Reddy

South Africa: Laura Wolvaardt (c), Tazmin Brits, Marizanne Kapp, Anneke Bosch, Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Annerie Dercksen, Eliz-Mari Marx, Sinalo Jafta (wk), Ayabonga Khaka, Nonkululeko Mlaba

Matches played: 18

India: 9

South Africa: 6

No result: 3

Tuesday’s fixture is a make-or-break affair for the host which needs a win to tie the series. 

IND-W vs SA-W, Third T20I: India Women seeks to brave resilient South Africa Women and weather to level series

Indian bowlers’ struggle to contain South Africa forced the team to make major changes to the XI ahead of the second T20I and they will be put to test during the make-or-break fixture.

The third T20I is scheduled to begin at 7 PM IST; toss at 6:30 PM IST. 

Match will be telecast on the Sports 18 network. It will also be available from streaming through the Jio Cinema app and website. 

Welcome to the live coverage of the final game of the T20I series between India and South Africa women set to be played at the M.A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday. Stay tuned for the live updates.