India women have steamrolled South Africa women in the third and final T20I to avoid a series loss and level it 1-1. The Women in Blue defeated the Proteas side by 10 wickets in the third match of the series at the MA Chidambaram Stadium with a complete all-round performance.
Chasing a meagre target of 85, the Indian openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana took the hosts home unscathed in little over 10 overs with all 10 wickets in hand. This was India's final T20I game ahead of the Women's Asia Cup, which begins on July 19.
The victory was set by the bowlers. They choked the Proteas line-up. Pooja Vastrakar was the chief destructor, while Radha Yadav complemented well in taking out the lower order. Vastrakar ended her day with figures of 4/13 in 3.1 overs, while Radha was even more mingy with only six runs from her three overs for three wickets. Deepti Sharma, Arundhati Reddy and Shreyanka Patil also chipped in with a wicket each.
Shafali and Mandhana went strong with the bat in the run-chase. Mandhana took two fours from Ayabonga Khaka's opening over, which went for 10. The Proteas tried taking some momentum away with three tight overs for only eight runs. Shafali then hit Eliz-mari Marx for two fours to pull the momentum back. The run-scoring did not stop then as India raced to 51 from 7 overs. There was a chance for the Proteas to get a wicket when Wolvaardt dropped a tough chance of Shafali at extra cover in the ninth over but that was the only chance that came their way.
Mandhana then cut one towards point to bring the equation under 10, before hitting another four over extra cover. She then finished things off with a six over fine-leg to take India home and also bring up her fifty. She went unbeaten on 54 from 40 balls, while Shafali went back unscathed on 27 from 25 deliveries.
For her four-wicket haul, Vastrakar was named as the Player of the Match and also as the Player of the Series. India have levelled the series 1-1. They lost the opening T20I by 12 runs while chasing 190 at the same venue in Chennai. The second game was washed out after the first innings after the visitors made 177 batting first.
