Smriti Mandhana seems to be in a golden phase where everything she touches turns to success. The Indian vice-captain recently decided to try her hand at bowling at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, a familiar ground where she often plays for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Women’s Premier League (WPL).
Mandhana’s remarkable contributions this year have been pivotal in helping RCB secure the WPL title, a significant feat for a team that had previously struggled to meet the high expectations set by their IPL counterparts. Continuing her stellar form, Mandhana hit two consecutive centuries against South Africa at this very stadium, and on Wednesday, she achieved another milestone by taking her maiden international wicket.
Harmanpreet Kaur, who had earlier scored a magnificent century herself, decided to let Mandhana bowl just before the 15th over of South Africa’s innings. Mandhana immediately justified the decision, taking the wicket of Sune Luus who was caught behind by Richa Ghosh after scoring 12 runs off 13 balls.
watch the video here…
Smriti Mandhana has taken a wicket
Smriti’s celebrations were wholesome. pic.twitter.com/Z8H9EWkQFe
mufaddal vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) June 19, 2024
Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur’s explosive centuries powered India women to 325/3 against South Africa in the second ODI at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday. After winning the toss, South Africa sent India to bat first. The India batting line-up displayed a strong performance and scored just 28 runs in the first powerplay of the match.
Smriti Mandhana (136 runs from 120 balls, 18 fours and 2 sixes) and Shafali Verma (20 runs from 38 balls, 3 fours) opened for India. Nonkululeko Mlaba removed Verma in the 12th over.
Dayalan Hemalatha (24 runs from 41 balls, 1 four and 2 sixes) replaced Verma on the crease and tried to build a partnership with Mandhana. But she could not last long as Masabata Klaas bagged the wicket in the 23rd over.
Harmanpreet Kaur (103* runs from 88 balls, 9 fours and 3 sixes) replaced Hemalatha and played a stupendous knock. She built a strong partnership with Mandhana and added some crucial runs on the scoreboard.
The Proteas women struggled to remove the two Indian batters and conceded plenty of runs. Nonkululeko Mlaba picked up a crucial wicket in the 46th over to help her side but it was too late.
Harmanpreet and Richa Ghosh (25* runs from 13 balls, 3 fours and 1 six) stayed on the crease for India with India putting up a sizeable 325/3 on the scoreboard after 50 overs. Mlaba picked two wickets in her 10-over spell and gave 51 runs. Klaas bagged one wicket. South Africa need 326 runs to win the match.
Brief score: India Women 325/3 (Smriti Mandhana 136, Harmanpreet Kaur 103*, Richa Ghosh 25*; Nonkululeko Mlaba 2/51) vs South Africa Women. (With ANI Inputs)