India secured a clinical 10-wicket win over South Africa in their Only Women’s Test against South Africa at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. With their backs to the wall after the first two days, the Proteas showed a lot of heart to avoid the follow-on, but their efforts were not enough to help them win. India, in the meantime, made it 3-0 against their African opponents in Test cricket. After beating Australia and England by huge margins last year, India kept dominating the format at home.
After conceding a huge lead of 337 runs, South Africa made a comeback in the second innings. Their experienced duo of Laura Wolvaardt and Sune Luus put on 190 runs for the second wicket. Wolvaardt got to her century off 259 balls and became only the third batter in women’s cricket to score hundreds in all 3 formats, along with England’s Heather Knight and Tammy Beaumont.
Wolvaardt scored 122 runs off 314 balls with 16 fours before Rajeshwari Gayakwad accounted for her wicket. Harmanpreet Kaur got the crucial wicket of Luus, who chipped in with a handy 109-run knock. Marizanne Kapp, who showed a lot of fight in the first innings, made 31 runs. Nadine de Klerk fought hard to score 61 runs off 185 balls with 8 fours and 1 six, making sure that they wiped off the deficit and made India bat again.
Sinalo Jafta was retired hurt after lower limb cramps, but she returned to bat before Sneh Rana removed her. De Klerk’s late resilience helped the Proteas set India a target of 37 runs. Rana also became only the second Indian bower after Jhulan Goswami to finish with 10 wickets in a Women’s Test. Rana, Deepti Sharma and Gayakwad picked up 2 wickets apiece.
In the run-chase, interestingly, Smriti Mandhana, who scored 149 runs on Day 1, did not come out to bat. Instead, left-hander Shubha Satheesh came out to open the batting with Shafali Verma. Satheesh and Shafali took only 9.2 overs to take the Women in Blue past the finish line.
Shafali carried on from where she left off in the first innings when she scored 205 runs, falling agonisingly short of Mithali Raj’s record of the highest individual score (214) by an Indian woman in Tests. She stayed not out on 24 runs off 30 balls. Satheesh lent her support with a 26-ball 13.
After winning the ODI series and the Only Test, India will be looking to carry their form in the 3-match T20I series, starting July 5 at the Chepauk.