Fourth T20I: India women defeat South Africa by 51 runs

Surat (Gujarat) [India], Oct 1 (ANI): India women defeated South Africa by 51 runs at the Lalabhai Contractor Stadium here on Tuesday.
India are now on a 2-0 lead over South Africa with one match left in the five-match T20I series. The second and the third matches were abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain.
The match was reduced to 17 overs per side as the toss was delayed due to wet outfield.
Chasing a target of 141 runs, South Africa faced an early blow as their opener Lizelle Lee was run out in the second over. Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits then took the charge and provided their side with some momentum.
Radha Yadav, in the eighth over, took the wicket of Wolvaardt to end her 23-run inning. Poonam Yadav then came out furiously in the 11th over and took two wickets in two consecutive balls. Nadine de Klerk (9) and Mignon du Preez (0) became the victim of Poonam.
The skipper Sune Luus also failed to leave a mark as she was stumped in the 13th over bowled by Poonam. With Luus' wicket, half of the South Africa team was sent back to the pavilion.
In the next over, Brits too gave away her wicket after scoring 20 runs. Shabnim Ismail and Lara Goodall took the charge to save the sinking South Africa team as they needed 63 runs off just 18 balls.
Ismail too failed as she only managed to score five runs before Radha Yadav dismissed her. Ayabonga Khaka then took the field. Both Goodall and Khaka failed to chase the target as South Africa faced a 51-run defeat.
Earlier, after being sent to bat first, India had a brilliant start as both the openers, Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana, struck regular boundaries.
Both took India past 50 runs but soon after, Nadine de Klerk got hold of Mandhana (13) in the seventh over. Verma kept smashing boundaries and sixes but when she was just four runs away from her half-century, Tumi Sekhukhune bowled her.
Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues then took the field but the former was dismissed after scoring 16 runs. Deepti Sharma was the next batter and took India past 100 runs along with Rodrigues.
Rodrigues, who played an innings of 33 runs, was bowled in the second last over by Ayabonga Khaka. Pooja Vastrakar came out on the field and along with Sharma helped India set a target of 141 runs for the South Africa women.
The fifth T20I between both teams will be played on October 4.
Brief scores: India 140/4 (Shafali Verma 46, Jemimah Rodrigues 33, Nadine de Klerk 2-24) defeated South Africa 89/7 (Laura Wolvaardt 23, Tazmin Brits 20, Poonam Yadav 3-13) by 51 runs. (ANI)