 "Nadine de Klerk questions Richa Ghosh's ‘injury’ during Women’s World Cup thriller in Vizag: ’It was quite tactical'")
South African all-rounder Nadine de Klerk called out Indian wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh over her ‘injury’ while accusing the Women in Blue of making a ’tactical’ move in order to slow the game down during their ICC Women’s World Cup match in Visakhapatnam on Thursday.
The incident in question took place during South Africa's successful chase of the 252-run target set by India at the ACA-VDCA Stadium. De Klerk had assumed charge of the Proteas’ chase with captain Laura Wolvaardt (70) and all-rounder Chloe Tryon (49) back in the hut, and smashed put the tournament co-hosts under serious pressure after smashing in-form pacer Kranti Gaud for back-to-back sixes and a four at the start of the 47th over, bringing up her half-century along the way.
Proteas call out Women in Blue over Ghosh’s ‘injury’
Ghosh, who had smashed a superb 94 off 77 balls earlier in the evening to lift India to 251 from 102/6, signalled for a physio after complaining of some physical issue, resulting in a break in play. De Klerk, who was well set and in the zone at the time, wasn’t happy with Ghosh’s injury and conveyed her feelings to the umpire.
It was similar to Rishabh Pant’s strategic ‘injury’ during the Men’s T20 World Cup final between these two teams in Barbados last year, during which the Aiden Markram-led Proteas were chasing 177 to register their maiden World Cup triumph, either in the ODI or T20I format.
Unlike the Pant incident, however, the pause in play did not lead to yet another South African choke as de Klerk steered her side to a memorable three-wicket victory with seven deliveries to spare, helping Wolvaardt and Co pull off a second consecutive successful chase after getting routed by England in their opening game.
‘It worked out quite well for us’
And speaking to reporters after the thriller in Vizag, 25-year-old de Klerk did not let the ‘injury’ incident slide and questioned the Indian team for what the South Africans had perceived as a bit of gamesmanship.
“Yeah, look, I think we just kind of questioned whether something really happened. We obviously felt like it was quite tactical from India to try and slow the game down. But I think in the end it actually worked out quite well because we also got a bit of a refreshment and it just gave me a few seconds to restart my head and my game plans as well,” said de Klerk, who had earlier dismissed Ghosh in the final over of the Indian innings to deny her a century.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“I think in the end it worked out quite well. But, yeah, we knew it was quite tactical. They really tried to slow the game down, especially with starting the over quite well and then it was all about just slowing things down. But like I said, it worked out quite well for us,” she added.
While South Africa collected their second victory on the trot on Thursday to move to the fourth spot on the standings, India suffered the first defeat of their campaign after defeating co-hosts Sri Lanka as well as arch-rivals Pakistan in their first two games.
Despite the loss, India remain ahead of South Africa at the third spot, behind defending champions Australia and four-time winners England.
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