Manchester, June 21 (IANS) Veteran all-rounder Marizanne Kapp produced one of the finest knocks in Women’s T20 World Cup history, smashing an unbeaten 81 off 45 balls to seal South Africa’s six‑wicket win over India in a Group A thriller at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Chasing 159 in front of 11,712 fans, South Africa were floundering by making just 25 runs in the powerplay before Marizanne’s brilliance flipped the contest. Even as N Sree Charani took three scalps, including off a double-wicket maiden over, Marizanne unleashed her powerful shots through square of the wicket and downtown to hit seven fours and four sixes, while sharing a 97‑run stand with Tazmin Brits (40), including adding 66 runs from overs 10-15.
After Chloe Tryon’s thick edge brought the winning runs, Marizanne, twice reprieved by Radha Yadav, dropped to her haunches in relief as South Africa handed India their first defeat of the tournament. Earlier, Harmanpreet Kaur marked her 200th T20I appearance, the first by any cricketer.
But Marizanne and Shabnim picked two wickets each as a disciplined South Africa bowling line-up kept India to 158/7. The 33‑run stand between Harmanpreet and Deepti was India’s best partnership, thus underlining how sharp South Africa’s attack remained relentless. By the time the game ended, Marizanne proved once again why she remains one of the premier all‑rounders in women’s cricket.
India’s innings began with Shafali Verma clipping Marizanne off her pads for four, before driving Shabnim Ismail through cover. Smriti Mandhana joined in, driving Shabnim on the up and pulling her for consecutive boundaries. After flicking Marizanne wide of mid‑on, Smriti went for an ambitious scoop, but missed the length, and saw her stumps rattled, with the all-rounder celebrating in an animated manner.
Chloe Tryon’s introduction brought runs Shafali danced down to thrash through cover, swept powerfully, and launched a 74‑metre six in a 17‑run over. But Shabnim’s hostile bumper snared her glove – the 122.5 kmph delivery took a feather edge and Shafali was out for 31.
Yastika Bhatia struck fine boundaries before being trapped lbw by Ayabonga Khaka for 15. Jemimah Rodrigues followed – closing her bat face too late and falling to Nadine de Klerk’s diving caught‑and‑bowled for 12. Harmanpreet and Deepti steadied India’s innings with a 33‑run stand, before Shabnim bowled Harmanpreet for 24.
Though Deepti and Richa Ghosh hit three boundaries in seven balls, India’s tempo never lifted. Deepti, assured with the sweep, was undone by Nonkululeko Mlaba’s slower floater and miscued to short fine leg for 29. Richa, struggling for rhythm, was removed by Marizanne’s slower ball – top‑edging a sweep to short fine. Debutant Prema Rawat and Arundhati Reddy added a couple of runs before India closed their innings two runs short of 160.
South Africa’s chase began cautiously against Shafali’s off‑spin. Though India kept things tight, Laura Wolvaardt cracked a drive past point off Nandni Sharma for four, before she pulled Arundhati Reddy for six and thumped Shafali for another boundary.
But Charani’s left‑arm spin helped India claw back – she lured Laura into a lofted drive and took a return catch. After a dot ball, Charani took out Annerie Dercksen, who swiped across the line to be bowled for a duck, as the spinner’s double‑wicket maiden over left South Africa reeling at 25/2.
Tazmin tried to rebuild with Marizanne and the former stepped up by reverse‑sweeping Deepti for four. Marizanne struggled initially, mistiming drives and sweeps, but gradually found her rhythm. Prema’s leg‑spin was taken on by Marizanne – a carve over cover for four was followed by top-edge on a sweep palmed over by Nandni for six
The partnership grew in confidence – Nandni was scooped over fine leg for four by Marizanne, while Deepti was lofted over long‑on by Brits, who also survived an lbw review thanks to an under‑edge.
After Marizanne was put down by substitute fielder Radha at long-on off Charani’s bowling, she showed her full flow – lofting and sweeping her for boundaries, before sweeping Arundhati on consecutive deliveries to bring up her fifty in 34 balls and crunching a full toss from Deepti through cover for four.
Though Tazmin pulled straight to deep square leg off Shafali, Marizanne dispatched her down the ground for four and earned a reprieve again from Radha shelling a sitter at long-on. Though Charani castled Nadine after being hammered over extra cover for four, Chloe cutting through cover for four meant South Africa inched closer to complete the chase.
Marizanne wowed everyone by slog-sweeping Deepti for six, before whipping over mid-wicket for another maximum. Chloe then finished off the chase in style by edging Nandni through the slip cordon to get a sensational win for South Africa.
Brief Scores: India 158/7 in 20 overs (Shafali Verma 31, Deepti Sharma 29; Marizanne Kapp 2-27, Shabnim Ismail 2-28) lost to South Africa 161/4 in 19.1 overs (Marizanne Kapp 81 not out, Tazmin Brits 40; Sree Charani 3-24, Shafali Verma 1-22) by six wickets
–IANS
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