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LIVE Cricket Score, India Women vs South Africa Women, 4th T20I at Centurion: Hosts off to brisk start
Date: Wednesday, 21 February, 2018 16:54 IST
Match Status: Yet to Start
Venue:
Venue:
After 5 overs South Africa 39/0 (Lee 18, van Niekerk 15) First bowling change. Rajeshwari Gayakwad, slow left-arm is into the attack, and she has been taken apart here. Two fours and a six in that 15-run over.
SIX! What a shot. Full and flighted, and Lee gets underneath that to smoke it over midwicket.
FOUR! Lee gets into the act. Sweeps Gayakwad through midwicket with lot of authority.
FOUR! First ball from Gayakwad is full and slanting into Niekerk, who brings out a powerful sweep.
After 4 overs South Africa 24/0 (Lee 8, van Niekerk 10) Here's Dhar, and Niekerk dispatches her through midwicket first ball for a boundary. Dot ball and a single means five off first three balls. Smart batting this by the hosts. Draws Lee's edge and there are no slips. Fumble at short-third means another single. Slow, loopy ball that is jammed out by Niekerk. She has a wry smile. Single to end the over.
FOUR! Dhar is greeted into her second over with a four by Van Niekerk. Across the line swipe again, there was a misfield by Vastrakar there. Bad bounce, maybe. But it's the boundary that counts.
After 3 overs South Africa 17/0 (Lee 7, van Niekerk 4) Pooja continues. Two quick singles in first three balls. India can't afford any laxity on the field. Full to Van Niekerk who swipes across the line, and that's four leg-byes. Dot ball is followed by a single on the last ball.
After 2 overs South Africa 10/0 (Lee 6, van Niekerk 2) Rumeli Dhar, right-arm medium is in for the second over.She is bowling to the rival skipper. Finds her line straightaway. Full and into Niekerk who drives to covers for no run. Back of length and not much bounce, and Niekerk fails to connect her cut.Third-man comes in now. Wicketkeeper is up too. Nice wicket-to-wicket line and she almost bowls Niekerk. Conceded a boundary to Lee and a single on the next ball ends the over.
Rumeli Dhar last played a T20I for India before today was in 2011. It was against West Indies Women in Ahmedabad.
Dan van Niekerk is one of the three South African players to have scored 1000-plus runs in Women's T20Is . The other two are Mignon du Preez and Trisha Chetty.
This is the third time that India are playing a bilateral T20I series of more than three matches . However, they lost on both occasions previously. 1. Against West Indies Women in 2012 by 2-3 2. Against Australia Women in 2012 by 1-4
FOUR! That's a full toss from Dhar and it's a no-ball. Lee pulls her to vacant leg side.
After 1 over South Africa 2/0 (Lee 1, van Niekerk 1) Lizelle Lee and skipper Dane van Niekerk to open for South Africa. Pooja Vastrakar, right-arm medium-pacer to start proceedings for India. Back of length and on off to start. Lee nudges her to point and they open the account. Same spot to Van Niekerk, who lets it go through to the keeper. Goes full next ball and the skipper drives it to cover.Tidy start so far from Pooja. Back of length and in the channel is the fourth ball, and she plays it to point for no run. Single on the fifth ball to covers. That was slightly fuller. Dot to end the over, and that's a steady first over.
All set for action The national anthems are done. The teams will make way in the middle soon. This, as they say, promises to be a cracker!
South Africa XI South Africa Women (Playing XI): Lizelle Lee(w), Dane van Niekerk(c), Sune Luus, Mignon du Preez, Nadine de Klerk, Chloe Tryon, Marizanne Kapp, Shabnim Ismail, Masabata Klaas, Moseline Daniels, Raisibe Ntozakhe The hosts are fielding an unchanged team.
Indian XI Harmanpreet (C), Mandhana, Mithali Raj, Krishnamurthy, Gayakwad, Deepti Sharma, Rodrigues, Rumeli Dhar, Vastrakar, Bhatia (W), Poonam Yadav. Shikha Pandey and Anuja Patil dropped for Rumeli Dhar and Deepti Sharma respectively.
Indian skipper Harmanpreet confident "We got success while chasing in first two games, so we want them to set a total. We learnt a lot from last game," says the Indian captain.
After calling it right Harmanpreet Kaur has unsurprisingly has invited Proteas to bat first
India win toss So the toss is done and India women have won it. They have decided to bowl first.
India look to seal series Right then, it's time. We should have toss anytime now. India would be looking to get their campaign back on track and seal the series today. South Africa, who came back strongly in Johannesburg, would be keen on squaring the five-match series.
India's Mithali Raj speaks ahead of today's T20I
Can both the Indian teams seal their series today?
Hello and welcome to Firstpost's live blog of the fourth T20 international between South Africa and India The hosts kept the 5-match series alive with a win in the third T20I. With the middle-order collapsing in the previous game, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur would like to change things in the penultimate game of what has been a successful tour so far as India eye double series win in the rainbow nation. Stay tuned for all the live score and updates as we build towards the toss.
India vs South Africa, 4th T20I, Latest update: First bowling change. Rajeshwari Gayakwad, slow left-arm is into the attack, and she has been taken apart here. Two fours and a six in that 15-run over.
Preview: After convincing victories – by seven and nine wickets respectively – in the first two T20 games, India allowed South Africa to stay alive in the series by slumping to a five-wicket loss against the hosts in the third match in Johannesburg.
File image of Dane van Niekerk and Harmanpreet Kaur. Reuters
But having clinched the three-match ODI series 2-1, India would now be aiming to secure an unassailable lead in the shortest format series, which comprises six games in all.
A win will also make Harmanpreet Kaur and Co. the first to 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.
But it would be easier said than done. After a near flawless show in the opening two games, the Indians dished out a below-par display in third T20 to give South Africa a chance to make a comeback in the series.
In the last match, India's middle-order collapsed after a fiery start to end with 133 in 17.5 overs.
This was after being a solid 93 for two in the 12th over.
Skipper Harmanpreet looked in a punishing mood during her 30-ball 48 and together with opener Smriti Mandhana (37) added 55 runs for the second wicket in quick time.
But once the duo departed, the Indian middle-order collapsed like a house of cards.
Veteran Mithali Raj too would be hungry for runs after posting a duck in her previous knock. The Indian bowling too looked ordinary in the last match.
In the absence of injured veteran pacer Jhulan Goswami, the onus was on young fast bowler Pooja Vastrakar to lead the attack and she did it with aplomb picking up two wickets, giving away just 21 runs from her four overs.
But Pooja lacked support from the other end as her new ball partner Shikha Pandey went for runs.
Off-spinner Anuja Patil was also a big let down for India as she conceded 44 runs from her four overs and accounted for just one wicket.
Come tomorrow, Harmanpreet would want her team to tick all boxes correctly in order to register a rare feat in the history of Indian women's cricket.
With the men's team also scheduled to play their second T20 at the same venue later in the day, the onus will be on Harmanpreet and Co to set the ball rolling for Virat Kohli's team as they eye an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
On the other hand, South Africa would be a much more confident unit tomorrow, thanks largely to seamer Shabnim Ismail, who took her first T20I five-wicket haul in the previous match.
Ismail's figures of 5/30 were the second-best by a South African in the format and helped the hosts get a target that they chased down with six balls to spare.
They would also be hoping that Chloe Tryon, who struck a 15-ball 34 in the previous game, continues her good form.
Teams:
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, 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, Moseline Daniels.
Match starts: 4:30 PM IST.
With inputs from PTI