Indian women's cricket team registered an easy six-wicket win in the third ODI match over South Africa in Bengaluru on Sunday, June 23. Smriti Mandhana played another record-laden innings and Deepti Sharma shone with a ball to power India to a series clean sweep at M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
After electing to bat first, South African skipper Laura Wolvaardt smashed another fifty-plus score to give her team a flying start. But in-form spinner Deepti Sharma and youngster Arundhati Reddy picked two wickets each to restrict South Africa to a total of 215/8 in 50 overs.
Mandhana, who recorded two hundreds in the first two games of this series, scored 90 runs off 83 balls and captain Harmanpreet Kaur added 42 runs to help India chase down a target with six wickets and 56 balls remaining.
Having already secured the series win, India made two changes to their playing eleven with Priya Punia returning to international cricket replacing Dayalan Hemalatha and youngster Shreyanka Patil replacing Asha Sobhana. Tumi Sekhukhune replaced Masabata Klaas in the only change for the Proteas women.
Openers Wolvaardt and Taznim Britts added 102 runs for the first wicket to keep South Africa on track for a big total but Indian bowlers made a stunning comeback. Reddy dismissed Wolvaardt in the 20th over to give India a breakthrough and then the Proteas struggled for any meaningful partnerships.
Reddy also dismissed Anneke Bosch as Indian bowlers kept dominating in the middle overs. In-form Deepti bagged the valuable wicket of Nadine de Klerk's and dismissed Nonkululeko Mlaba in the 43rd over while conceding just 27 runs in her 10-over spell. Wolvaardt top-scored with 61 runs off 57 balls and wicketkeeper batter Mieke de Ridder added unbeaten 26 runs to guide South Africa past 200.
Chasing a fighting total, in-form Smriti and struggling Shafali Verma added 61 runs for the opening wicket to keep India in the driving seat. The hosts lost Shafali in the 12th over who scored 25 runs off 39 balls but Smriti added two crucial stands with Priya Punia and Harmanpreet Kaur.
Smriti missed out on her third consecutive century by just 10 runs but registered the record for most runs in a three-match bilateral ODI series in women's cricket. She finished the series with 343 runs and one wicket to claim the Player of the Series award while Deepti bagged the Player of the Match award for her two for 27 figures.
India Women Playing XI: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Priya Punia, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil.
South Africa Women Playing XI: Laura Wolvaardt (c), Tazmin Brits, Anneke Bosch, Sune Luus, Marizanne Kapp, Nadine de Klerk, Nondumiso Shangase, Mieke de Ridder (wk), Tumi Sekhukhune, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Ayabonga Khaka.
