South Africa beats India in a nail-biter as the Women in Blues crash out of the World Cup

India was up against South Africa in the final group stage match of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2022 as they were in desperate need of a win to make it further into the tournament.

India Women won the toss and decided to bat first. They have backed their decision to bat first with an overall team performance which included half-centuries by Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, and Mithali Raj. There was a significant contribution to the total by Harmanpreet Kaur as well who missed out on a well-deserved half-century.

Mandhana and Shafali Verma walked out to the middle to open the innings for team India. They managed to get past the first few difficult over and then went on to build an opening partnership worth 91 runs.

Yastika Bhatia who walked out to the middle at number 3 was sent back to the pavilion in no time. In came Mithali Raj who started slowly but then picked up the pace as she and Mandhana managed to put together an 80 run stand.

Once Mandhana was back in the hut, in came former skipper Harmanpreet Kaur as she joined hands with Raj to stitch another partnership worth over 50. India was well in control when they lost Raj and Pooja in quick succession.

Harmanpreet who was still out there in the middle managed to deal with the situation and dragged India to a score of 274 in their 50 overs. Kaur was dismissed in the final over, just a touch short of a well-deserved half-century.

South Africa stepped out to the middle to chase down the target of 275 runs on the board. The team had a tough start in the power play as they lost the wicket of Lee in the 5th over courtesy of a brilliant run out from Harmanpreet leaving them 14/1.

South Africa managed to pull the game back in their favor as Wolvaardt and Goodall put up a 125 runs partnership for the 2nd wicket. Rajeshwari Gayakwad gave India the breakthrough as she managed to find Goodall outside the crease as the keeper clipped the bails off. Harmanpreet was brought into the attack and she gave India two quick wickets within the next 30 runs to push South Africa down to 182/4 in 36 overs.

South Africa pulled the game away from India’s grasp with the 125 runs partnership

Du Preez and M Kapp pulled the game back in their favor with a crucial 47 runs partnership for the 5th wicket. Harmanpreet once again came in as the messiah for the team as she found another throw on the stumps, this time dismissing Kapp pushing the opponents down to 229/5 in 45 overs.

South Africa needed 46 runs in the last five overs of the game and Chloe Tyron fired some quick boundaries in back-to-back succession to push India to the backfoot. Gayakwad made a comeback after being taken to the cleaners as she found the important wicket of Tryon leaving South Africa down to 255 for 6. South Africa was in need of 20 runs off the last three overs as the game went down to the wire.

Both the sides tried to get an upper hand in the contest, but the game was right in the middle as South Africa needed 7 runs off the last over. Deepti Sharma was given the responsibility to bowl the final over. With just 6 runs needed off the last five balls, Du Preez tried to sneak in a couple of runs but Chetty failed to reach the non-striker’s crease in time as India found a very crucial wicket and managed to save a run.

Deepti Sharma pulled the game away with a wicket in the penultimate ball of the game as Preez looked to finish the things with a maximum down the ground but handed the ball to Harmanpreet at the ropes. However, things took a worse turn for India as the umpire signalled for a no-ball as the Indian shoulders dropped with the decision.

With the scores levelled and just 1 run needed off the last ball, Du Preez finished the game off with style with a boundary chasing the second-highest total in the history of the Women’s World Cup knocking India out from the chance to make it into the semi-finals.

Indian skipper Mithali Raj was disappointed after the outcome but spoke highly about the performance from her girls in the tournament,

“I personally feel the girls gave it all, it was an important game, was a good game, it ended our campaign, but I’m proud of the girls for coming so far. With the bowlers we had, I thought 275 was a good total, we had defended similar totals in the past. Her experience (on missing Jhulan Goswami) would have added a lot, but this was an exposure for the other girls to step up. Everything should come to an end, it’ll take time to settle the emotions, but that is what the sport is.”

With the group stages of the tournament concluding this Sunday, the four teams heading into the semifinals have been decided as it will be the West Indies taking on Australia in the first semifinals on Wednesday followed up by the second semifinals between South Africa and England on Thursday to determine the finalists of the tournament.