East London T20I: Indian eves elect to field first against Proteas

East London [South Africa], Feb 16 (ANI): The Indian women cricket team won the toss and opted to field first in the second T20I of the five-match series against South Africa in East London on Friday.

India would be looking to ride the wave of momentum to double their lead in the series.

Earlier, India registered a thumping seven-wicket win over South Africa in the high-scoring series opener in Potchefstroom.

Opener Mithali Raj contributed with an unbeaten 54 - her third successive fifty in T20Is - to marshal India's chase of 165.

En route to her half century, she struck six boundaries and a six in 48 deliveries.

Opener Smriti Mandhana made 28 while skipper Harmanpreet Kaur failed to score any runs.

Jemimah Rodrigues and Veda Krishnamurthy hit 37 apiece.

On bowling front, off-spinner Anuja Patil picked two wickets for 23 in her four overs to pin down South Africa's batting line-up.

The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side played with four debutants in the series-opener to test their pool ahead of the 2018 World T20, starting from November in the West Indies.

The two squads are as follows:

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana, Mithali Raj, Veda Krishnamurthy, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Anuja Patil, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Nuzhat Parween (wk), Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav

South Africa: Dane van Niekerk (c), Marizanne Kapp, Trisha Chetty (wk), Shabnim Ismail, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, Sune Luus, Odine Kirsten, Mignon du Preez, Lizelle Lee (wk), Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Raisibe Ntozakhe, Moseline Daniels. (ANI)