India captain Harmanpreet Kaur, on Tuesday (July 9), took a brilliant catch to put her team in a commanding position in the do-or-die third T20I against South Africa at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.
South Africa had won the first game of the three-match series while the second game was washed out without any result. India needed to win the third game to avoid a series loss. Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and opted to bowl first.
India were off to a fine start as they picked up 2 wickets inside the powerplay. Shreyanka Patil dismissed captain Laura Wolvaardt in the 4th over before Pooja Vastrakar sent back Marizanne Kapp in the fifth over. And in the 8th over, Harmanpreet Kaur came up with a brilliant diving catch to dismiss the in-form Tazmin Brits and reduced South Africa to 45 for 3.
Deepti Sharma bowled one on the off-stump and the South Africa batter danced down the track to hit the ball over the infield. Although she could not clear the infield, it looked like she would get a four after hitting the ball towards the right side of the India skipper who was standing at mid-off.
Harmanpreet came up with a fine-diving effort to catch the ball just inches above the ground. Brits departed after scoring 20 runs.
Watch the catch from Harmanpreet Kaur:
What a catch! 👌👌
Captain @ImHarmanpreet with a splendid fielding effort to dismiss Tazmin Brits 👏👏@Deepti_Sharma06 strikes ⚡️⚡️
Follow the match ▶️ https://t.co/NpEloo68KO#TeamIndia | #INDvSA | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/uW9sp32q66
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) July 9, 2024
Talking about the game, India thrashed South Africa by 10 wickets to draw level in the series. South Africa just could not recover after the early setbacks and were bowled out for just 84 runs inside 18 overs. Barring Brits, no other South African batter could touch the 20-run mark.
For India, Vastrakar starred with the ball, taking 4 wickets for just 13 runs while Radha Yadav claimed 3 wickets for 6 runs. With the bat, India chased down the total inside 11 overs without losing any wickets. Opener Smriti Mandhana led the charge with the bat, scoring an unbeaten 54 off 40 balls with Shafali Verma scored 27 not out.
Earlier, India had whitewashed South Africa in the three-match ODI series before winning the one-off Test as well. Harmanpreet Kaur & Co. will now be taking part in the Women’s Asia Cup T20, scheduled to be played from July 19 to 28 in Sri Lanka.
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