When Sune Luus stepped down the track to heave Deepti Sharma over midwicket for a six at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Wednesday, April 22, she sealed India's fate. As a result, South Africa defeated the Indians by nine wickets in the third T20I of their five-match series, taking an unassailable 3-0 lead. The South Africans had won the first and second matches of the series. Now, they look incapable of ever being defeated by their visitors.
India batted first and put up 192-4 on the board thanks largely to their captain Harmanpreet Kaur's 66 that ended on the last ball of the innings via a run-out. Opener Shafali Verma got the visitors off to a good start and ended with 64. He was helped out by Smriti Mandhana, who scored 37 herself. Jemimah Rodrigues was India's sole disappointment. She got out off her first ball, but wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh helped herself to a fine, unbeaten 18 that came off 10 balls.
It was a battle of the captains, and South Africa's Laura Wolvaardt won this one comfortably. She took the attack to the Indians without even being asked to. By the time she departed, South Africa’s score had reached 183, and her personal score had come to 115 off just 53 deliveries. Her dismissal brought Tazmin Brits to the crease, who was the grateful watcher as Luus tucked into Sharma to give the home team an unassailable lead in the series.
Wolvaardt was the heroine of this match. She played graceful strokes all across the ground, and used her feet to good effect to get to the pitch of the ball. The right-hander brought her experience to the fore by playing mind games with the Indian bowlers and using the depth of the crease to her advantage. Hence, it was no surprise that her innings consisted of a whopping 14 boundaries and five sixes. With this defeat, India are expected to slump further into despair, given that they cannot win the series anymore. However, if only for pride, the Women in Blue have to come back strongly in the next two matches.