The Indian women cricket team was restricted at 188/9 in 50 overs against South Africa in the 5th ODI which is also the final in the series. With the series already out of its hand by 3-1 margin, the Indian women’s cricket team struggled in the first inning of the last match in which its pride was also at stake.

Keeping aside the 9-wicket victory in the second match, the Indian women were never cohesive in their attempt to stop the South African women’s team. Although, it should be noted that the series against South Africa is the women’s team first International series after a year due to COVID-19 induced series postponements and cancellations. Meanwhile, South Africa who already beat Pakistan 3-0 at home, fired all 4-cylinders and clinched the series against India 3-1 and have looked lethal in the final game as well.

Earlier in the last match, South African team looked lethal with the ball and never allowed an inch of breathing space for the Indian women. The opening partnership of Priya Punia and Smriti Mandhana was broken by Kapp who bowled Punia out at 18. Soon, Mandhana too left the crease scoring 18 runs as well. Punam Raut looked equally rusty, getting out having scored just 10 runs in 18 deliveries. Indian team was left stuttering at 53/3.

Meanwhile Indian skipper Mithali and Harmanpreet tried to stabilise the rocky boats and just when they started opening their arms and increase the run-rate, Harmanpreet was ruled retired hurt. After that point, South African women took command of the game and never left the steering wheel. Mithali Raj brought her fifty soon enough but got no support on the other hand as Dayalan, Sushma and Jhulan all lost their wickets in quick succession.

While Dayalan Hemalatha scored only 2 runs and played 15 deliveries before edging the ball and getting out, Sushma Verma scored a 10-ball-duck before she was trapped by Klerk and was given out on an LBW appeal. Jhulan looked equally rusty and could only score 5 runs off 19 deliveries. She mistimed a tossed-up delivery used as bait by Sekhukhune. Jhulan took the bait in an attempt to increase the run-rate and was caught on long on.

Eventually India W put up disappointing 188 runs on board in 43.3 overs. For the South African team, Nadine led the bowling unit bagging 3 crucial wickets in her 10 over spell, while Sekhukhune and Shangase each bagged 2 wickets.

Earlier in the series, the Indian women’s team continued missing the mark, thanks to the absence of young Shafali Verma as an opener and the experience of Shikha Pandey in the bowling department. Meanwhile, for Indian bowling department, Rajeshwari Gayakwad has only taken 5 wickets from her 4 matches. Poonam Yadav, India’s senior most leg-spinner could not take a single wicket in her four matches. It can be safely concluded that due to Indian women team’s bowling team’s performance; the team suffered a series lost as the South African team were able to chase 249 and 267 quite easily in the last two matches.

Taking about the batting department, opener Punam Raut has been fighting the lost battle with finesse and grace. In her four matches, she scored 10, 62, 77 and 104 and is currently the top-run getter among the Indian women. Even Indian women team Captain Mithali Raj and Vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur have been consistent with their batting performance. Raj scored 50, 36 and 45 in her three matches and also achieved the feat of being the first Indian women cricketer to reach 10,000 runs (second Internationally). Meanwhile, her deputy Kaur scored 40, 36 and 54 in the first three matches.