Indian eves eye ODI series win against Proteas

Kimberley [South Africa], Feb 7 (ANI): After clinching a thumping win in the series-opener, the Indian women's cricket team will aim to clinch the three-match ODI series when they take on South Africa in the second game at Kimberley today.

Earlier, the Mithali Raj-led side notched a crushing 88-run win over South Africa in the opening ODI to take a 1-0 lead in the series at the Diamond Oval.

Prior to the opening match, India did not get to play an international game since the 2017 World Cup, where the side made it to the finals before slumping to a heartbreaking nine-run defeat at Lord's against England to lose by nine runs.

The three-match ODI series, which is the first-round fixture of the ICC Women's Championship, gives two sides an opportunity to directly qualify for the 2021 ICC Women's World Cup.

At the backend of the ODI series, with memories of the ICC Women's World Cup 2017 still fresh in the minds of both teams, the two sides will also play five T20Is, which will not count towards the ICC Women's Championship.

However, the matches will have an impact on the Women's Team Rankings on which India are presently ranked fourth and South Africa at sixth.

The two teams are as follows:

India: Mithali Raj (capt.), Taniya Bhatia, Ekta Bisht, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy, Smriti Mandhana, Mona Meshram, Shikha Pandey, Punam Raut, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Sushma Verma and Poonam Yadav.

South Africa: Dane van Niekerk (capt), Marizanne Kapp, Trisha Chetty, Shabnim Ismail, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, Sune Luus, Laura Wolvaardt, Mignon du Preez, Lizelle Lee, Chloe Tryon, Andrie Steyn, Raisibe Ntozakhe and Zintle Mali.(ANI)