More than 12,000 spectators. A stiff 190-run target of which 21 were needed off the final six balls. Nonkululeko Mlaba was given the tough job of keeping an upbeat Jemimah Rodrigues (53 n.o, 30b, 7x4, 1x6) and Harmanpreet Kaur (35, 29b, 5x4) at bay. And the left-arm spinner did just that, closing out a close 12-run win at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday.
Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana gave the fans in the stands their money’s worth, stitching fifty runs together in just five overs. Ayabonga Khaka, the Protean pace spearhead, with Marizanne Kapp staying away from the attack, removed the dangerous Shafali, deceiving her with a slower one. Smriti kept the run rate moving, with Dayalan Hemalatha for company.
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Chloe Tryon gave South Africa a big break, setting Smriti up with a few dot balls to draw a shot that took the edge and went to the keeper, four short of a half-century. Hemalatha lost her wicket to a ripper from Nadine de Klerk which beat her attempted shot and rattled the stumps.
Skipper Harmanpreet and Jemimah steadied the Indian innings, effortlessly finding boundaries with the asking rate escalating. The duo also seemed under the pump constantly requiring hydration.
65 runs were needed off the last five, which this pair managed to shave down to 21 off the final over. Each fan had risen from their seat, some even going to the railings, the vuvuzelas making way for a tense silence.
But Mlaba held her nerve, even dismissing Harmanpreet off the last delivery to silence an otherwise boisterous Chennai crowd, sealing South Africa’s first win of the tour.
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Earlier, Tazmin Brits and Marizanne Kapp’s dual-natured fifties carried South Africa to 189/4 in 20 overs, with a little help from a sluggish effort on the field from the Indian outfit. The home side’s sloppiness on the field saw at least three simple chances squandered which might just have been the difference between a win and a loss in the first of three T20Is.
Brits got off to a horrifying start, struggling with a single run off 10 balls at one stage. Laura Wolvaardt, who had to turn aggressor to compensate, was dismissed early. Brits teamed up with Marizanne Kapp, with the duo stitching a 96-run stand for the second wicket to take the Proteas to a competitive total.
On a night where the Proteas got over their early nerves to score at over nine runs an over, Pooja Vastrakar was the pick of the Indian bowling bunch, with an enviable economy rate of 5.75 and two big scalps to boot.
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