IND v SA [W] 2024, IND-W vs SA-W 2nd ODI Match Report, June 19, 2024

Four centuries, a first in women’s ODIs. A total of 646 runs. The spectators in Bengaluru were treated to as entertaining game of 50-over cricket as they could have imagined, and the result went their way too: India clinched a last-ball win over South Africa to win the series 2-0 with a match in hand.

SA start brilliantly with the ball

The way South Africa started with the ball, one would have expected India to stop at around 230-240.

The second ODI was played on a different strip to the series opener, with a patch of grass and visible cracks on it. The new-ball pair of Ayabonga Khaka and Masabata Klaas extracted everything they could from it, exerting pressure on Shafali Verma and Mandhana with a lot of movement. A bit of variable bounce also meant runs were hard to get initially. Mandhana, in fact, got off the mark after 18 deliveries.

After 15 overs, India had huffed and puffed to 47 for 1, hitting just five fours. In this period, they had faced 72 dot balls.

The game-changing partnership

Along with D Hemalatha, the No. 3, Mandhana stitched a steady 62 runs off 68 balls. Hemalatha fell for a 41-ball 24, and it was only after Harmanpreet walked out that runs started flowing.

The pitch had also eased out by then, and Harmanpreet and Mandhana put on a huge partnership – 171 runs off 136 balls.

Their centuries not only helped India overcome their sedate start but also batted South Africa into a corner (though not out of the game, as it emerged).

Mandhana oozed class and Harmanpreet showed what power and deft touch can do.

Mandhana picked up pace, getting herself from 31 off the first 48 balls to her seventh ODI hundred in 103 balls, and went on to add 36 more. When the bowlers varied their lines, she moved around the crease and either slashed it to deep point or pulled to the square-leg area. Along the way, Mandhana also became the first Indian to score back-to-back centuries in women’s ODIs.

Harmanpreet didn’t have to start slow, unlike her deputy. After racing to a run-a-ball 24, she got quicker as her innings progressed. Unlike Mandhana, who scored on both sides of the wicket, Harmanpreet scored predominantly on the leg side. A total of 70 of her runs came on that side, with four of her nine fours and two out of three sixes hit in the midwicket region.

Meike de Ridder, who played in place of South Africa’s first-choice wicketkeeper Sinalo Jafta after she suffered a mild concussion on the eve of the match, missed a stumping chance when Harmanpreet was on 88, off the second delivery off the final over. It gave Harmanpreet a chance to complete her sixth ODI century, the first in almost two years, and she smoked 4, 6 and 4 to get to three figures.

South Africa ran out of steam, with Wolvaardt even bringing on legspinning-allrounder Sune Luus – who was bowling after a gap of two years in ODIs – into the attack. However, they couldn’t contain India, who scored 118 runs in the last ten overs.

Full report to follow…