India women’s cricket team were utterly dominated by the South Africa women’s team in the first ODI at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium on Sunday, 7 March.
Returning to action after a year, the Indian team was dismissed by SA’s bowling attack for just 177 runs. After dominating with the ball, the South African openers hammered the Indian bowlers as the visiting team cruised to victory in just over 40 overs.
The hosts lost the toss and were made to bat first. It took South Africa 5 overs to dismiss the first Indian wicket as Smriti Mandhana fell prey to Ayabonga Khaka after scoring 20 off fourteen balls. The very next over saw the dismissal of Jemimah Rodrigues after scoring just one run.
India’s top order collapsed at just 41 runs when Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur put on a 62-run partnership for the fourth wicket to make India go past the 100-run mark. However, their hopes were shortlived as the South African skipper Sune Luus outfoxed Harmanpreet Kaur and took her wicket.
Deepti Sharma along with Mithali Raj again attempted to firm up India’s grasp on the match and put up 52 runs for the fifth wicket. However, once Mithali Raj departed after scoring 50 runs off 85 balls, her 54th ODI half-century, India’s tail collapsed swiftly and put on a total of 177/9 in 50 overs. Shabnim Ismail led the bowling attack for SA by claiming three wickets for just 28 runs.
Quick opening wickets in the second innings would have brought India back into the game, but the South African openers had other plans as the duo amassed a staggering 169 runs for the opening wicket and shattered any chances India had of winning the game. South African opener Lizelle Lee scored an unbeaten 83 off 112 balls and her partner Laura Wolvaardt scored 80 runs before falling to Jhulan Goswami.
Goswami also picked the wicket of South African captain Sune Luus, but her efforts went in vain as the openers had already done the damage. The Player of the Match was awarded to Shabnim Ismail for taking three wickets, which included the vital wicket of Mithali Raj.
India played its first international match since the final of the T20I World Cup in Melbourne, Australia, on 8 March 2020.
The Indian team would be looking to avenge its embarrassing defeat as India plays South Africa again on 9 March for the second ODI of the series.
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