IND-W vs SA-W: 1st ODI – Protea take 1-0 lead with a comfortable victory

India’s return to the international arena in women’s cricket didn’t turn out as expected. South Africa, the visitors, defeated them by eight wickets comfortably in the first of the five-match ODI series. Their bowlers were sensational on the day and triggered a collapse to keep a lid on the run-scoring. The Proteas Women then chased down the total with more than nine overs to spare to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

Here are the talking points of the match:

 1. Failure for India’s top 3

After losing the toss, India were hoping for a good start. But their top three, Jemimah Rodrigues, Smriti Mandhana and Punam Raut, couldn’t hang around for long courtesy of some superb bowling from South Africa. Their three pacers, Kapp, Ismail and Khaka picked one wicket each upfront to reduce India to 40/3 within 14 overs.

2. Mithali-Harman partnership

At 40/3, things were looking extremely dull for the hosts and India needed a partnership. This is when two of India’s best players, Mithali and Harmanpreet Kaur, joined hands to stabilise the innings. The latter was the aggressor and it helped the team in upping the ante as well. The duo added 62 runs in less than 12 overs before Kaur was dismissed by Luus. She scored 40 off just 41 balls with six fours while Mithali scored a fighting half-century.

Half-century for Mithali Raj ?

It’s her 54th in women’s ODIs – no other player has more than 46.#INDvSA pic.twitter.com/MDjxkRv7PF

— ICC (@ICC) March 7, 2021

3. India collapse again

Mithali and Harmanpreet took India to 102, and then Deepti Sharma also showed heart to play well. But once her 52-run stand with Mithali came to an end, it was all one-way traffic as they collapsed. From 154/4, they were reduced to 160/8 and ended up posting an underwhelming 177/9 in 50 overs. In the last 12.2 overs, India scored only 23 runs and lost five wickets.

4. Lee and Wolvaardt make it a no contest

India were hoping to take a few early wickets with the ball to defend the modest total. But Lizelle Lee and Laura Wolvaardt didn’t allow them any sniff with some stunning batting. They first scored some quick runs to put the opposition on the back foot and then tackled the spinners carefully with no pressure of scoring quickly. The duo added 169 runs for the opening wicket as Wolvaardt scored while Lee remained unbeaten on 83 to see the team through.