Women's T20 WC: Kapp, Ismail shine as South Africa restricts India to 158
Manchester, June 21
A collective bowling display from South Africa Women's restricted India to 158/7 in their ICC Women's T20 World Cup clash on Sunday in Manchester.
South Africa fought back after a strong start by India. After Marizanne Kapp castled Smriti Mandhana (17), Shabmin Ismail has struck back with the wicket of Shafali Verma (31). Both the openers were back in the pavilion as India finished the powerplay at 59/2.
Ayabonga Khaka joined the party as she trapped Yastika Bhatia's leg before the wicket. Though India have lost their top 3, they ticked at a good rate. After 10 overs, India are 82/3.
Seasoned campaigners Nadine De Klerk and Shabmin Ismail landed a couple of blows to peg India back to 116/5 in 15 overs.
Jeminah Rodrigues fell to a caught and bowled off De Klerk, while Ismail's final over garnered the wicket of captain Harmanpreet Kaur and just three runs.
Kaur playing her 200th T20 made her the first cricketer to reach the landmark. It was an impressive bowling performance by South Africa in the second half to restrict India's power-packed batting to 158/7.
The last 10 overs accounted for 76 runs and four wickets.
This is the second time that India Women have gone past 150 without an individual 50-plus score in the Women's T20 WC, after 163/5 against Bangladesh Women in Bengaluru in 2016.
With the bat for India, Shafali Verma top-scored with 31, while Deepti Sharma (29) and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (24) made useful contributions to the innings.
With the ball, Marizanne Kapp and Shabnim Ismail picked up two wickets each, while Nonkululeko Mlaba, Ayabonga Khaka and Nadine de Klerk claimed one wicket apiece.
— ANI
Reader Comments
Poor batting after the powerplay. Shafali and Smriti gave a good start but then it just fizzled out. South Africa's bowling was tight, especially Ismail and Kapp. We miss the big hitters in the middle overs. Still, 158 is defendable if our bowlers do their job. Come on girls! 💪
Honestly, a bit disappointed. We had the platform at 82/3 after 10 overs but couldn't accelerate properly. Deepti played well for her 29 but needed someone to go for 50+. South Africa's fielding was sharp too. Let's hope the bowling unit can pull off a miracle.
Kapp and Ismail were outstanding, plain and simple. They bowled with pace and movement, especially in the death overs. India's batting looked one-dimensional once the openers left. Need better game awareness in the middle overs - too many dot balls and then rash shots. This is a good learning opportunity for the team.
Happy to see Harmanpreet complete 200 T20 matches - a true legend of Indian cricket! 🎉 But we need to criticize the middle order collapse. Jemimah getting out caught and bowled was avoidable. Anyway, 158 is not a bad score, just hope our spinners, especially Deepti and Radha, can create pressure.
Sa vs India matches always have that extra spice! South Africa's pace attack is underrated - Ismail can clock 120+ consistently even at this age. India should have rotated strike better in the middle overs. Still
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