South Africa held its nerve to defeat India by four wickets in the third and final match of the ODI series at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Friday. Chasing India’s 180, South Africa finished with 184 for six in 48 overs to clinch the series 2-1.
South Africa lost its openers Lizelle Lee and Trisha Chetty within the first five overs as Jhulan Goswami rattled the stumps, but Nadine Moodley (54) and skipper Mignon du Preez (46) shared a 108-run third-wicket partnership to keep the visitors on track.
The duo ran hard in an alliance spread over 139 deliveries but India came back strongly when debutant Deepti Sharma dismissed Moodley and du Preez in the 29th over.
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Soon, South Africa slumped to 148 for six before Dane van Niekerk and Sunette Loubser ensured that victory was secured.
Earlier, an excruciatingly slow start, an active middle passage followed by a collapse, left India with a mixed bag. Shikha Pandey (59), Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur were the rescuers but their efforts could not entirely shake off the lethargy that marred the initial phase when Poonam Raut scored her first run off the 35th ball she faced.
Nor would Shikha and company have foreseen the last four wickets falling for a mere four runs. After du Preez elected to field, India gasped as Poonam struggled. With Marizanne Kapp scalping Smriti Mandhana, the score crawled to nine for one in 10 overs. Gradually it became 40 for three after Deepti and Poonam fell.
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Shikha and Mithali then added 67 for the fourth wicket.
Later, Harmanpreet proved to be a durable ally for Shikha but once the tail wilted, South Africa never looked back.