DURBAN, Apr 19: The Indian women’s cricket team lost to South Africa by eight wickets
in the second game of the five-match WT20I 2026 series at Kingsmead, here, on Sunday.
South Africa had also won the opening WT20I against India at the same venue and now lead the series 2-0.
Shafali Verma was India’s top-scorer with 57 off 38, while Laura Wolvaardt (54 off 34 balls) and Sune Luus (57 off 46 balls) starred with the bat for the hosts, according to olympics.com.
Tumi Sekhukhune (3/31) and Chloe Tryon (3/22) were the pick of the bowlers for the Proteas. Chasing a modest 148 to win, South African openers Laura Wolvaardt and Sune Luus were in
a rush to wrap up the match quickly.
Both batters took the attack to the Indian bowlers, unleashing an onslaught that saw the hosts finish the powerplay on 66/0 with Laura Wolvaardt scoring 30 and Sune Luus making 34 inside the first six overs.
They maintained the momentum beyond the powerplay, cruising to 92/0 at the halfway stage before Laura Wolvaardt brought up her second fifty of the series with a boundary, taking South Africa past the 100-run mark in the 11th over.
India finally broke the opening partnership in the 12th over after Shreyanka Patil dismissed Wolvaardt. However, the damage was already done as the South African batters coasted to
victory with almost three overs to spare.
Earlier, India were put into bat first and had a solid start despite losing the wickets of both Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues in the first five overs.
Opener Shafali Verma was the chief architect behind India’s brisk start, smashing four fours and two sixes to score 37 off India’s 58 runs in the powerplay.
Shafali Verma and Anushka Sharma stitched together a 53-run stand for the third wicket to steady the innings, taking India into a strong position before the latter’s dismissal in the 13th over left them at 99/3.
Shafali, who reached her fifty in the 10th over, was back in the dugout soon after. The two wickets sparked a collapse as India lost wickets at regular intervals.
Indian T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur was run out in the 18th over as India laboured to a total of 147 before being bowled out. India will play South Africa at the Wanderers in Johannesburg in
the third match of the series on Wednesday.
Brief scores: India Women 147/10 in 20 overs (Shafali Verma 57; Tumi Sekhukhune 3/31, Chloe Tryon 3/22) lost to South Africa Women 148/2 in 17.1 overs (Sune Luus 57, Laura Wolvaardt 54; Shreyanka Patil 2/35) by eight wickets.
(UNI)
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