Match Center

Right then, that's all from this game and this entertaining series. South Africa Women won the first game, and India Women came out on top in the last game. However, with rain playing spoilsport in the second T20I, the series will end with a scoreline of 1-1. Laura Wolvaardt and Harmapreet Kaur share the silverware and pose for a few pictures before joining their teammates. The players and support staff of both sides then pose with the trophy in front of the 'Winners' board, reflecting the spirit in which the multi-format series was played. This was South Africa Women's final series before the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in October. Some of their players will be playing in the franchise leagues, while others will be honing their skills at home before the showpiece event. As for India Women, their next assignment is the Asia Cup, which begins in Sri Lanka later this month. India will open their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan in Dambulla on the 19th of this month. We look forward to seeing you then. Until then, take care and cheers!

The skipper of India Women, Harmanpreet Kaur says that they spoke about the things they needed to improve and she is proud of the way the team performed. Feels that going forward, they might have situations similar to this where they will have to go hard and express themselves. Adds that they were positive in this game and played as a team. Feels that having self-belief is important and now with Asia Cup around the corner, they want to go there and do really well. Tells that the coaching staff have been helping in the environment and shares that this is the best support staff she has played with.

The captain of South Africa Women, Laura Wolvaardt says that it is a disappointing loss and with the standard of batting they have it was a below-average performance. She adds that they were looking to go really hard and attack from the start and were not able to recover from there. Gives credit to the Indian bowlers for putting up a brilliant performance.

Pooja Vastrakar is the PLAYER OF THE MATCH and also the PLAYER OF THE SERIES for her brilliance with the ball throughout the series. She says that the talk was to bowl stump-to-stump and tried to execute it. Adds that the hard lengths suit her and bowling at the stumps was key for her. Mentions that she was given the responsibility to bowl with the new ball and felt that she needed to contribute to the team's cause upfront by picking wickets. Hopes that the team can continue this performance in the Asia Cup and then the World Cup. States that the plan was to be more at the stumps in this game and it was good to see all bowlers stick to that plan.

Time for the presentation ceremony...

Radha Yadav is in for a chat. She says that it has been a great series and she has got to learn a lot as a cricketer. She further says that the team regrouped after the second game to look at the things they had to work on and they executed their plans really well in this game. She further says that she had been taking things very fast in the bowling process and today she was very calm in the game which worked really well for her. Ends by saying that they have been looking only to focus on the process and not on the results.

Earlier in the game, after Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss, she chose to field first. The initial couple of overs favoured South Africa, but it was all India from there. South Africa lost Wolvaardt and Kapp during the Powerplay but managed to reach a decent position by the end of the first six overs. However, the visitors faltered in the middle phase as India steadily took wickets, giving them no respite. Both the pacers and spinners contributed to the effort, resulting in a comprehensive team performance that bowled South Africa out for just 84 runs. Pooja Vastrakar was the standout performer for India, achieving career-best figures of 4 for 13 from 3.1 overs.

As far as South Africa are concerned, they just could not turn up in the series finale. With not much to defend, they needed wickets in the Powerplay to have any chance. With no scoreboard pressure, the Indian openers had the luxury of respecting good deliveries and they did just that. As the scorecard suggests, South Africa Women lost the game in the first half itself, getting bowled out for just 84 runs, which was never going to be enough.

As clinical as it can get! The Chennai crowd are up on their feet as India complete a resounding win and end the series on a level footing. This is the biggest win for India in terms of balls remaining against South Africa in Women's T20Is as they gun down the total with 55 balls to spare. With only 85 runs to get, it was going to be a matter of when rather than if for India. None of the two openers came out all guns blazing and mixed caution with aggression to move towards the target. Smriti Mandhana went into overdrive towards the end and with the winning runs, notched up her fifty while Shafali Verma remained unbeaten on 27. Harmanpreet Kaur and Co. are currently taking a victory lap to thank the Chennai crowd for their support not only during the T20I series but also during the one-off Test.

SIX! BANG! Smriti Mandhana brings up her FIFTY and gets India Women to a huge win! Low full toss on the stumps from Nadine de Klerk and Smriti Mandhana walks around and slogs the ball high over deep square leg and gets her team over the line.

Nails the yorker on the leg stump line and Smriti Mandhana moves away to block it well. India Women just a hit away!

Swings in fuller on the stumps. Smriti Mandhana moves away and blocks it off back to the bowler.

FOUR! SLAM! Smriti Mandhana closing in on her half-century as well! Moves onto 48! Slower ball from Nadine de Klerk fuller on the off stump adn Smriti Mandhana takes away the front foot and lofts the ball high and long over mid off for a super boundary.

FOUR! Smriti Mandhana looking to end things in the over! India Women 7 runs away from a massive win. Nadine de Klerk drops the ball short outside the off stump inviting Smriti Mandhana to play her favourite cut stroke. Smriti Mandhana slaps the ball to the left of point and the ball races away to the boundary.

Drinks break! It has turned out to be a pretty one-sided series finale. India are cruising towards their target and are just 11 runs away from ending the series on level terms. It is about delaying the inevitable for South Africa more than anything else.

Tossed up again on the stumps. Smriti Mandhana sweeps the ball to deep mid-wicket for a run.

SIX! BANG! FIRST OF THE INNINGS! Smriti Mandhana walks into a fuller ball on the stumps and lofts it flat over the head of deep mid-wicket into the crowd. What a hit!