Laura Wolvaardt continued to put daylight between her and the next best batter in the T20I series against India as she smashed an undefeated 56-ball 92 in the final game to power her side to a 4-1 series victory. India, who went in without vice-captain Smriti Mandhana, Shreyanka Patil and Kashvee Gautam for this dead-rubber, showed good bowling application against batters not named Wolvaardt but their batters couldn't follow that up with winning show.
On a sluggish surface in Benoni, Wolvaardt set the tone for her side after deciding to bat first. South Africa got to 49/0 in 6 overs, with Wolvaardt scoring 44 of those, from 25 deliveries. She continued to flay the Indian bowlers even after the field restrictions relaxed. At the other end, Sune Luus enjoyed multiple reprieves as India were sloppy with their catching. In the ninth over, Wolvaardt got to her 30-ball half-century. In the same over though, Shree Charani broke the opening stand with the wicket of Luus and then removed Tazmin Brits in the 11th.
Deepti Sharma took out Annerie Dercksen for a four-ball duck next over. As wickets fell, scoring slowed a touch but Wolvaardt tried to keep the boundaries coming from one end. India couldn't find a way to stop the South African skipper but bowled well to her teammates, as Deepti dismissed Anneka Bosch for a 11-ball eight in the 16th over. Renuka Singh then bowled a double-wicket 18th over but Sinalo Jafta and Wolvaardt collected 29 runs off the last two overs to take their team past 150. That included Wolvaardt finishing the inning with two sixes.
In chase, India lost Shafali Varma in the third over and Jemimah Rodrigues in the fourth, dimming any hopes of a fast start for the visitors. Harmanpreet Kaur and Anushka Sharma rebuilt rather slowly, failing to put away bowlers on both sides of the Powerplay. Their 17-run alliance came off 24 balls before Nadine de Klerk dismissed Nadine de Klerk in the eighth over. Bharti Fulmali injected a sense of urgency to chase, but it wasn't sufficient.
Nonkululeko Mlaba ended Harmanpreet's troubled stay in the 13th over. Richa Ghosh pushed the scoring too with a 15-ball 25* but Fulmali's exit in the 16th over paved the way for a collapse. India went from 99/5 to 119/8 with Ghosh waging a lone battle. In the end, India fell 23 runs short.
@B0$
@B1$South Africa Women 155/6 in 20 overs (Laura Wolvaardt 92; Renuka Singh Thakur 2-21, Shree Charani 2-22) beat India Women 132/8 in 20 overs (Bharti Fulmali 40; Nonkululeko Mlaba 2-15, Nadine de Klerk 2-26) by 23 runs
