Colombo, May 7 (H.S.): The Indian women’s cricket team secured a place in the final of the ODI Tti-series by delivering a stellar performance and defeating South Africa by 23 runs in the last and decisive match. Now, India will face Sri Lanka in the title match on May 11 in Colombo.

Chasing a massive target of 338 runs set by India, South Africa had a poor start. The team lost its first wicket for just 7 runs. Opener Laura Goodall (7) and Tazmin Brits (26) were dismissed by Amanjot Kaur, giving India a strong start. After that, Anele Phehlukwayo (81 runs, 80 balls) and captain Chloe Tryon (67 runs, 43 balls) tried to stabilize the innings, but they couldn’t lead the team to victory. In the last two overs, South Africa needed 39 runs, but the game was briefly halted due to bad light. When the match resumed, the African team could only manage to score 15 runs.

Among the Indian bowlers, Amanjot Kaur changed the course of the match by taking 3 wickets, while Deepti Sharma claimed 2 wickets. Sri Charmi and Pratik Rawal contributed with 1 wicket each.

Earlier, after losing the toss and batting first, the Indian team did not start well, losing three crucial wickets by the time they reached 50 runs. Then, Jemimah Rodrigues (123 runs, 101 balls, 15 fours, 1 six) and Deepti Sharma (93 runs, 84 balls) put together a brilliant partnership that rescued the team from trouble. Smriti Mandhana also added a valuable 51 runs. India scored 337 runs for 9 wickets in the allotted 50 overs.

For South Africa, Masabata Klaas, Nadine de Klerk, and Nonkululeko Mlaba each took two wickets.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar