Chennai, July 8: Desperate to level the three-match series after the second game was washed out, India would hope weather doesn’t play spoilsport, besides eyeing a much-improved bowling effort in the final women’s T20I against South Africa here on Tuesday.
India are trailing the three-match series 0-1 after losing the opener by 12 runs. Their problems compounded after the second game here on Sunday was washed out midway due to persistent drizzle.
And with 30 to 40 per cent of rain forecast for Tuesday, the Indians are left on the mercy of weather gods.
In both the matches, the Indian bowlers cut a sorry figure as South Africa amassed 189 for 9 and 177 for 6 respectively.
Barring Pooja Vastrakar, who picked up two wickets each in both the games, and spinner Deepti Sharma, most of the Indian bowlers failed to shine against the Proteas women.
Renuka Singh leaked runs in the first game and was subsequently replaced by Sajeevan Sajana in the second T20I but the latter also didn’t her cause.
Shreyanka Patil and Radha Yadav picked up a wicket each on Sunday but continued to leak runs.
India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur would want her bowlers to pull up their socks with the series at stake.
On the batting front, it has been a decent show by the Indians in the first game. The likes of Jemimah Rodrigues (53 not out), Smriti Mandhana (46), Harmanpreet (35), Shafali Verma (18) and Daylan Hemalatha (14) all making double digit scores.
Uma Chetry, who made her T20I debut on Sunday, is likely to persisted with as Harmanpreet and the team management would like to see her exploits with the bat.
South Africa, on the other hand, has been rock solid with the bat with Tazmin Brits, who hit consecutive half-centuries, leading the charge. Besides Brits, skipper Laura Wolvaardt, Marizanne Kapp and Anneke Bosch have contributed with the bat as well for the visitors.
Fielding coach Bali heaps praise on Uma Chetry
Indian women’s cricket team fielding coach Munish Bali lauded Uma Chetry for her fielding skills, and said the young wicket-keeper is a “ truly hard-working cricketer”.
Chetry, 21, made her T20 International debut against South Africa in the abandoned second game of the three-match series here on Sunday, and inflicted a stumping off Deepti Sharma’s bowling to get rid of a well-settled Tanzim Brits.
This was after Chetry had earlier missed a similar chance against Brits as she collected the ball ahead of the stumps.
But Bali backed the youngster and recalled how she had bravely fielded at the short-leg during the Test match against South Africa last week.
“I was happy when she was handed her debut cap. During the Test, she fielded for around 70-80 overs — she is a brave girl,” he said during the post-match press conference. (PTI)
“Standing at the short-leg is not easy. She got hit by the ball, but she stood there in pain. She has great attitude and is a truly hard-working cricketer. I was so happy for her to have stumped Brits.” Rain washed out the second T20I between India and South Africa with the tourists setting the hosts a target of 178 to level the series.
Despite some slip-ups on the field, Bali was overall content with the team’s effort. “It’s difficult to grip the ball when it’s drizzling. But still, we fielded very well. We are working on it (fielding) and it’s in progress as we keep getting better slowly. “No one drops catches intentionally. The players have been practising hard during our (training) sessions, giving their best. At times, things click, and sometimes, it doesn’t. Errors happen during matches. So, we keep telling them to keep giving their best and results will follow,” he said. (PTI)
