Follow UsThe Indian women’s team have continued their victory run in the ongoing Women’s Tri-nation ODI series alongside Sri Lanka and South Africa by defeating the latter by 15 runs in a closely contested game at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka. All-rounder Sneh Rana was the star performer for India as she picked up a maiden fifer to prevent the Proteas women from chasing down the 277-run target set by India.
India batted first, and Pratika Rawal and Smriti Mandhana gave the team a good start once again and added 83 for the first wicket. Although India’s run-rate plummeted slightly as Rawal and Harleen Deol (29 off 47) failed to inject some urgency into India’s innings. That only happened after Jemimah Rodrigues (41 off 32), skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (41 off 48) and Richa Ghosh (24 off 14) played quick-fire knocks to help India reach 276/6 in 50 overs.
The Proteas had a stellar start to the chase in return, with Tazmin Brits and Laura Wolvaardt adding 140 for the first wicket. Although Brits went on to score a century (109 off 107), the South African middle order failed to lift the team, and Rana picked up four wickets in the last 10 overs alone to puncture the Proteas chase, which was looking in a comfortable spot at the 40-over mark.
In the end, Wolvaardt’s side fell short by 15 runs. India have now won both its games in the tri-series and is really well placed to make the finals with two more group games left for them before the final. Their net run rate of +0.750 might also hold them in good stead if they lose and the situation gets tricky.