A rusty Indian women’s cricket group might be in search of some rhythm in the second ODI towards South Africa right here on Tuesday (March 9) after being outplayed by the guests in the series-opener. Though captain Mithali Raj and her deputy Harmanpreet Kaur had insisted that rustiness received’t be a difficulty in their first collection in 12 months, India clearly regarded a facet which had not performed for a very long time in the opener of the five-match collection on Sunday (March 7).
A greater ready South Africa, however, have been scientific and might be exhausting to beat in the approaching video games. After the sport, Harmanpreet realised the gamers wanted a while to gel as a unit. Barring Harmanpreet, Mithali and Deepti Sharma to a sure extent, not one of the batters might apply themselves on an honest batting floor.
A whole lot of them have been responsible of poor shot choice as identified by Harmanpreet after the sport. The spinners, who’re historically thought-about India’s power, hardly troubled the South African duo of Lizelle Lee and 21-year-old Laura Wolvaardt, who put up the very best ever opening wicket stand towards India to run away with the competition.
There have been some positives, nevertheless, comparable to Mithali scoring a gritty half-century and pacer Jhulan Goswami exhibiting she continues to be among the many greatest in the enterprise. Both the veterans have been enjoying their first recreation since November 2019.
Kaur too regarded good in her a hundredth ODI however would have preferred to convert the beginning into a giant rating. Opener Smriti Mandhana struck three pleasant fours earlier than falling to a unfastened shot and can be backing herself to bat lengthy on Tuesday.
“Few of them got starts but couldn’t convert. The bowlers need to be more consistent with lines and lengths, maybe they weren’t consistent because they’re coming back after a long break,” Mithali acknowledged, after the match in which India might publish solely 177 that South Africa chase down in simply 40.1 overs.
Pacer Monica Patel was handed her debut on Sunday and extra caps might be handed out in the second recreation with the administration retaining one eye on preparations for the World Cup subsequent yr.
Pulling off one back towards South Africa looks like a frightening job contemplating the best way they performed in the opener. They regarded a group excessive on confidence having blanked Pakistan at residence not too long ago.
Their tempo assault led by Shabnim Ismail was spectacular and Indians could have to discover a approach to negate that risk.
Teams (from):
India women: Mithali Raj (captain), Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Punam Raut, Priya Punia, Yastika Bhatia, Harmanpreet Kaur, D Hemalatha, Deepti Sharma, Sushma Verma (wicket-keeper), Swetha Verma, Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Jhulan Goswami, Mansi Joshi, Poonam Yadav, C Prathyusha, Monica Patel.
South Africa women: Sune Luus (captain), Ayabonga Khaka, Shabnim Ismail, Laura Wolvaardt, Trisha Chetty, Sinalo Jafta, Tasmin Britz, Marizanne Kapp, Nondumiso Shangase, Lizelle Lee, Anneke Bosch, Faye Tunnicliffe, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Mignon du Preez, Nadine de Klerk, Lara Goodall, Tumi Sekhukhune.
