Richa Ghosh’s 94 in vain as South Africa stage stunning comeback to beat India by 3 wickets in Women’s World Cup

Visakhapatnam: South Africa trumped Richa Ghosh’s vibrant 94 through collective combativeness of Laura Wolvaardt and Nadine de Klerk to eke out a thrilling three-wicket win over India in the Women’s World Cup here on Thursday.

Skipper Wolvaardt (70), Chloe Tryon (49) and Nadine de Klerk (84 not out, 54 balls) played lead roles as South Africa overhauled India’s 251, and rose to fourth position on the table.

They ended up at 252 for seven in 48.5 overs.

Once half of South Africa’s batting unit returned to the hut with less than 100 on the board, their chase appeared to have been doomed.

Pacer Kranti Gaud’s stunning return catch to dismiss opener Tazmin Brits for a naught, triggered SA’s slide.

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Veterans Marizanne Kapp, Sune Luus, Anneke Bosch and Sinalo Jafta did not last long in the middle, as South Africa slid to 81 for five.

Wolvaardt added 51 runs for the sixth wicket with Chloe Tryon to steady the ship.

She essayed some archetypal drives to reach her fifty in 81 balls, however, Gaud returned to snap the alliance with a searing yorker that crashed through Wolvaardt’s defence.

The Proteas were 142 for six then, and still 110 runs away from the target.

But Tryon and De Klerk, who clobbered Gaud for two successive sixes, braved the variety in Indian attack to stitch an alliance of 69 runs for the seventh wicket, which carried their side closer to the finishing line.

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The visitors needed 52 runs off the last five overs, and surmounted that 10 runs an over situation through prudence and power of De Klerk.

Earlier, Ghosh displayed the same qualities in ample measures to roll to an innings of rare brilliance, which came in 77 balls (11x4, 4x6).

The right-hander found perfect pacing and placing during her fifty after walking in at a marshy 102 for six.

The rescue work started with Ghosh adding 51 runs for the steady seventh wicket with Amanjot Kaur.

A power-hitter, Ghosh curtailed her instincts and raised her fifty in 53 balls, with two slog-swept sixes off Nadine de Klerk and Tumi Sekhukhune giving her some tempo.

But Kaur departed in her effort to up the scoring rate, as India were once again pegged back at 153 for seven.

However, Ghosh found another able and stable ally in Sneh Rana (33) as they realised 88 runs off 53 balls for the eighth wicket.

The presence of a solid Rana inspired Ghosh, who was dropped on 76 and 84, to open her shoulders more and put the SA attack to the sword in the latter part of her innings, a phase when she made 44 runs in 24 balls.

A maiden ODI hundred was well within Ghosh’s reach but she fell in the final over chasing some quick runs.

Ghosh had to dig deep after a now familiar top-order snag hit India earlier.

The ACA-VDCA Stadium pitch, perhaps, was the best among the three decks — including Guwahati and Colombo — India have batted on yet but they failed to exploit it fully after being asked to bat.

But the beginning was bright as openers Pratika Rawal (37) and Smriti Mandhana (23) added 55 runs in 10.2 overs.

A guarded Mandhana tried to break the shackles with a towering straight six off pacer Ayabonga Khaka but perished soon to left-arm spinner Noku Mlaba.

Rawal and Harleen Deol (13) then took India to 83 for one, and the latter’s dismissal sparked a collapse, as the hosts lost five wickets for just 19 runs.

South African bowlers’ nagging line, and a hint of turn might have played a part in it, but the Indian batters too were guilty of trying to force the pace.

Deol fell to a peach by Mlaba as the ball squared her up with its outward turn, but Rawal tried to push pacer Tumi Sekhkhune to leg-side and the resulting leading edge was taken by Brits.

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur looked to play a booming drive off spinner Tryon but another leading edge ended in the hands of Kapp.

Jemimah Rodrigues missed the sweep against Tryon and fell leg before and Deepti Sharma was caught down the leg side as India slipped to 102 for six.