Christchurch: The opening partnership of Smriti Mandhana (71) and Shafali Verma (53), along with skipper Mithali Raj's half-century that provided stability to the innings led India to a total of 274/7 against South Africa here at Hagley Oval in an ICC Women's World Cup.
Harmanpreet Kaur's innings of 48 off 57 balls was equally crucial as she kept scoring runs with a healthy strike-rate from one end when the wickets kept falling from the other. However, it did look at one point were India seemed to be surpassing 300 but the fall of wickets mid-innings halted the team's march and they had to be content with a total below 300.
After Mithali's (68) wicket, it was up to Harmanpreet Kaur as Pooja Vastrakar couldn't go for the late onslaught after getting dismissed at 3 runs off 8 balls. From South African side, Masabata Klaas and Shabnim Ismail were the most successful bowlers picking two crucial Indian wickets each.
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India is fighting for a place in the semi-finals.
How the innings panned out?
India chose to put runs on the board in the high-pressure game while their opponents took the field in their last league game having already qualified for the semifinals.
Shafali and Smriti shared a 91-run stand off 90 balls for the opening wicket to provide the start India were looking for.
Shafali scored bulk of the runs in the partnership with Smriti and looked at her fluent best en route her maiden World Cup fifty. She put South Africa's best bowler, pacer Shabnim Ismail under the pump by attacking her from the word go.
Shafali collected three boundaries off Shabnim's second over including an audacious walk across the off-stump to whip the South African bowler over short-fine leg. Her entertaining innings included eight fours.
The 18-year-old completed her first fifty of the competition with a boundary over mid-on off pacer Masabata Klaas.
With the way the openers were going about their business, India looked on course for 300 for the second time in the tournament. However, India lost Shafali against the run of play before number three batter Yastika Bhatia got out in a bizarre fashion.
There was a miscommunication over a quick single on the leg side between Shafali and Smirti while Yastika played a sweep shot on to her stumps off spinner Chloe Tryon, leaving India at 96 for two from 91 for no loss.
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Mithali and Smriti then got together to regain the lost momentum. Brought back into the attack after an expensive spell, Shabnim came back strongly. She used the bouncer brilliantly to put pressure on the India skipper.
It was a typical Mithali knock as she changed gears after taking her time early on. She released the pressure with a bunch of cut shots off spinners before hitting a sublime cover driver off pacer Marizanne Kapp.
With Mithali going strong and Harmanpreet joining her in the middle, India found their rhythm back to reach 223 for three in 40 overs.
However, only 51 runs were scored off the last 60 balls for the loss of four wickets as India failed to get the final flourish.
Interestingly, Mithali scored her fifty in a crucial game at the same ground where she scored her maiden World Cup half-century 22 years ago.
Brief Score
India: 274/7, Smriti Mandhana - 71, Mithali Raj - 68, South Africa: Masabata Klaas - 2/38, Shabnim Ismail - 2/42
