An unbeatable 2-1 lead already in its grasp, the Indian women’s cricket team would look to extend its domination in the shortest format and achieve a rare double series win when it takes on South Africa in the fifth and final Twenty20 International here on Friday.
A win will make Harmanpreet’s women the first have won two series on a single tour of South Africa. It will also be a huge milestone after having won the T20 series in Australia.
India dominated the proceedings in the first two T20Is, was jolted in the third before rain played spoilsport in the last match. Harmanpreet has to ensure that there are no slip-ups on Friday.
Onus on top-order
Mithali Raj has done bulk of the scoring for India with consecutive fifties (54, 76) in the first two matches before a rare failure (0) in the third. Her opening partner S. Mandhana too has done well with useful contributions of 28, 57, 37. The onus would be on the trio of Mithali, Mandhana and Harmanpreet to anchor the innings.
Off-spinner Anuja Patil, who has produced a breakthrough in the first three matches, has emerged as the top wicket-taker for India with five scalps. However, she conceded 44 runs from her four overs in the third T20I and would look to recover quickly.
Pooja has proved herself
Spinner Poonam Yadav and young teenaged pacer Pooja Vastrakar have done well with four wickets each so far. Pooja, filling the big boots of injured veteran pacer Jhulan Goswami, has delivered so far. However, her new ball partner Shikha Pandey hasn’t looked as sharp.
The South African women have largely failed to match their Indian counterparts in limited overs cricket. However, skipper D. van Niekerk would look to draw inspiration from the performance in the third match.
The teams (from):
India: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Mithali Raj, Veda Krishnamurthy, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Anuja Patil, Taniya Bhatia, Nuzhat Parveen Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav and Rumeli Dhar.
South Africa: Dane van Niekerk (captain), Marizanne Kapp, Trisha Chetty, Shabnim Ismail, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, Sune Luus, Odine Kirsten, Mignon du Preez, Lizelle Lee, Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Raisibe Ntozakhe and Moseline Daniels.
Match starts at 4:30 p.m. IST .
