A weak batting effort cost the Indian team dear as it suffered defeat in yet another summit showdown. On Thursday in East London, the Indian team lost the women’s Tri-series final against the hosts South Africa by five wickets. The final was played in a low-scoring environment.
Chloe Tryon, who scored 57 runs off 32 balls, accomplished something that no one else could by counterattacking with great vigour. She hit six fours and two sixes on her way to chasing down a paltry 110-run target with two overs left to spare.
Because of the slowness of the track, all of the other batters had a much harder time than Tryon did, which is one of the reasons why Tryon’s innings were so memorable.
Indian spinners Deepti Sharma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, and Sneh Rana did their best to counteract Harleen Deol’s perplexing batting approach; however, despite South Africa being reduced to 47 for 4 and then 66 for 5 at the beginning of the 14th over, the target was never a defendable one.
Tryon went in the complete opposite direction of what Deol did in response to a pitch in which the ball was not coming on to the bat. Because Deol consumed such a large quantity of dot balls, the Indians were forced to pay a hefty price.
“Body is in good shape. The more rest you get, the better it will get. There have been some strong performances from our team. Unfortunately, we were not able to bat as well as we would have liked today, and the bowlers did a good job “India captain Harmanpreet Kaur said later.
Tryon repeatedly targeted the arc that extends from square leg to midwicket as she plonked her front foot and displayed some of the most impressive power hitting in the game.
The victory was achieved much more easily than anyone had anticipated in the end as the stocky Proteas middle-order batter got a lucky six when Pooja Vastrakar dropped a dolly at deep square leg boundary to gift the opposition easy winning runs. This resulted in the victory being achieved much more quickly than anyone had anticipated.
Earlier, Deol’s laborious 46 off 56 balls on a sluggish track caused more harm than good as India only reached 109 despite losing four wickets. Despite his efforts, India only achieved 109.
Deol’s effort was a below par one as she played a huge number of dot balls which increased the pressure on Deepti Sharma (16 not out off 14 balls), who also couldn’t do much of the heavy-lifting. The stylish Smriti Mandhana was dismissed for naught, and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (21) also returned to the dug-out just when she was getting set.
Worse yet, India made no effort to force the pace of the game, and Deol was content to play the sheet anchor until she lost her wicket in the final over. India’s performance was particularly disappointing.
Left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba (2/16 in 4 overs) was outstanding for South Africa in the Powerplay. She bowled a frustrated Mandhana, who had been unable to open her account in the previous seven deliveries.
She raced down the track and played all over a delivery, which caused the leg stump to become unsettled.
Other openers like Jemimah Rodrigues (11 off 18 balls) and Deol were unable to get off to a good start against Mlaba and the experienced pacer Shabnim Ismail (0/9 in 3 overs).
With only 19 runs scored by India through the first six overs of the Powerplay, the South African bowling duo combined for 25 no-hit deliveries.
After being dismissed by an away turn from Mlaba and a leg-spinner from Sune Luus, Rodrigues and Harmanpreet were stumped by the keeper, Sinalo Jafta, who made a smart play.
There were many instances in which the ball did not make contact with the bat, and the Indian batters did not have the necessary tempo with which to work.
Due to the severity of their situation, the boundary count after 20 overs did not even reach the double digits. Only nine in the morning. The total number of dot balls consumed was 57 (9.3 cumulative overs), with Deol being the player who used the most of them.
