India lost its last five wickets for 21 races as captain Mithali Raj’s 50 was in vain
South Africa 178 for 2 (Lee 83 *, Goswami 2-38) India 177 by 9 (Raj 50, Ismail 3-28) by eight windows
Laura Wolvaardt and Lizelle Lee made a starting position of 169 races and did half a century each as South Africa worked their way to a victory over India in the opening ODI in Lucknow. It only took two more batters to chase down a small target after a disciplined effort from the visitors’ bowling attack and an energetic display on the field kept India below par on a good pitch. Along the way, Wolvaardt also became the youngest South African in 2000 ODI races.
This was South Africa’s seventh consecutive victory for ODI after the series swept New Zealand last year and Pakistan in January, while also equaling their longest winning streak. South Africa has scored seven consecutive ODI victories twice before: first between August 2007 and July 2008, and then between February and June 2018.
India had not played ODI cricket since November 2019 and last had international action a year ago in the T20 World Cup final, and their lack of time in between was proven. Their scoring of runs was tentative, they made mistakes in shot selection and placement, and their innings were limited by collapses. Shabnim Ismail proved to be the destroyer-in-chief with 3-for-28, while both Marizanne Kapp and Ayabonga Khaka conceded less than three runs and South Africa tightened their hosts who failed a limit after 36th.
At the time, Mithali Raj was still on the fold, having helped India rebound from 40-for-3. She shared two major partnerships: a 62-run fourth-wicket spot with Harmanpreet Kaur followed by a 52-run fifth-wicket union. races with Deepti Sharma, and earned her 54th ODI 50, setting the stage for India to post a challenging total. But Raj’s firing in the 38th over saw India’s last five wickets double for 21 runs, which included four wickets for eight 40-ball runs.
However, India’s innings had started strong when Smriti Mandhana hit three limits of the first six balls he faced, but that intention turned out to be a false dawn. Mandhana and her starting teammate Jemima Rodrigues set off in successive overs to leave India at 18-2. Raj’s first two limits calmed things down and showed his class: he split two cover fielders in two and the gap between the third man. short and point back accurately, and let the power blow to the others.
Punam Raut slashed Ismail by four, but then rushed to do a jerk and beat him to the thin leg, prompting Kaur to join Raj. Kaur took on the role of aggressor, rushing toward a running 40 while raising the India hundred with a long-leg flat punch. On the next over, he went down the court in an attempt to loft Sune Luus for six, but he didn’t get enough on his shot and hit Ismail directly at length.
Raj was 26 of 50 balls at the time and allowed himself to rebuild. He sped up slightly – his next 24 runs came off 34 balls – and reached fifty with a deep squared single. Two balls after the milestone, he made the only mistake on his tackles and hit Ismail to Wolvaardt on the spot. India could not recover from there and barely managed 23 runs in the final 12 overs to finish with a total that would barely challenge South Africa.
Lee began the answer by cutting Jhulan Goswami’s fifth ball for four before Wolvaardt followed with consecutive limits against rookie Monica Patel. The pair took advantage of whatever width was offered, and the pair of new balls from India provided that in abundance, and they navigated the spin sensibly, even as Sharma and Poonam Yadav found a sharp turn. In addition to the drive Wolvaardt has become so well known for, he was also strong on the rear foot, while Lee showed his sweeping ability as races were available for South Africa.
Wolvaardt’s 18th fiftieth, and second in successive games, came with a Goswami cut from the 70th ball he faced. Lee followed shortly after, crushing Sharma by six to regain his mid-19th century with 84 deliveries. India’s only chance to seize a window that could have caused concern in South Africa came in ’31 when Wolvaardt drove Yadav to cover where Kaur dived to his right, but couldn’t hold on to the opportunity.
India finally got some luck at the end of South Africa’s innings, when Wolvaardt was eliminated against Goswami with South Africa nine runs from the win. Wolvaardt missed a shot and was hit in the boot, but the ball seemed to miss the trunnions and, without DRS, it was not possible to verify. Goswami won a second wicket when substitute captain Luus built up an attacking lead as he tried to pass the ball over the inner ring to hit the winning runs, but found the covering fielder in place. The victory finally came with a wide delivery at 41, giving South Africa the victory with 59 balls to spare.
Firdose Moonda is a correspondent for ESPNcricinfo in South Africa
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