Chennai pacer Pooja Vastrakar went on a rampage with a career-best bowling performance of 4/13 before Smriti Mandhana shone with the bat with an unbeaten half-century as India thrashed South Africa by 10 wickets in the third and final women's T20 International. to level the Series 1-1 here on Tuesday.
Left-arm spinner Radha Yadav also contributed an excellent performance of 3/6 from his three overs to help India bowl out South Africa for just 84 in 17.1 overs after opting to bowl.
India easily chased down the small target of 85 with 55 balls to spare and without losing any wicket with opening batsmen Mandhana and Shafali Verma not out for 54 and 27 respectively.
Mandhana scored the winning runs (six from Nadine de Klerk) as India reached 88 for no loss in 10.5 overs. This was India's biggest win over South Africa in this format, both in terms of wickets (10) and balls to spare (55).
Mandhana, who was at his best towards the end of the chase, hit a six in the tenth over and followed it up with two fours and a maximum in the next to end the contest quickly. This was her 24th T20I half-century.
The Indian opening duo played some smart cricket, making 40 without loss at the end of the powerplay, with the visitors using five different bowlers in this phase, but without any success, Mandhana and Verma then went for the big shots to end the contest. quickly.
In total, Mandhana hit eight fours and two sixes off the 40 balls he faced, while Verma hit three fours off 25 balls.
South Africa had won the first match by 12 runs before the second T20I was swept on Saturday.
Previously, only three South African batsmen managed to score in double figures, with Tazmin Brits (20 off 23 balls) being their top scorer.
Openers Laura Wolvaardt (9 off 9 balls) and the British could only muster 19 runs for the first wicket.
When Shreyanka Patil dismissed Wolvaardt in the fourth over, the British pair and Marizanne Kapp (10 off 8 balls) added 11 runs for the second wicket.
Interestingly, the Indians used four different bowlers in the first four overs.
Kapp fell in the fifth over as it became Vastrakar's 50th wicket in the format. Next to go for South Africa were the British with Deepti Sharma grabbing her precious wicket in the eighth over, when the score read 45 for three.
In the same, Deepti dropped Chloe Tryon, as the host's string of poor fielding continued in the third consecutive match.
However, the visitors struggled for a proper partnership, having dominated with the bat in the previous two outings.
They lost their next two wickets with a score of 61 in the 11th over, thanks to Vastrakar exploiting the wicket.
Midway through the innings, it was evident that the track didn't have much for the batsmen, with spongy bounce and soft spin.
Also, the rain in the city in the last few days had dampened the ground, causing Vastrakar to have slight changes to his average pace, which actually bothered the South Africans.
Things just got worse for South Africa as they lost their remaining five wickets for just 23 runs.
Left-arm spinner Radha Yadav also contributed an excellent performance of 3/6 from his three overs to help India bowl out South Africa for just 84 in 17.1 overs after opting to bowl.
India easily chased down the small target of 85 with 55 balls to spare and without losing any wicket with opening batsmen Mandhana and Shafali Verma not out for 54 and 27 respectively.
Mandhana scored the winning runs (six from Nadine de Klerk) as India reached 88 for no loss in 10.5 overs. This was India's biggest win over South Africa in this format, both in terms of wickets (10) and balls to spare (55).
Mandhana, who was at his best towards the end of the chase, hit a six in the tenth over and followed it up with two fours and a maximum in the next to end the contest quickly. This was her 24th T20I half-century.
The Indian opening duo played some smart cricket, making 40 without loss at the end of the powerplay, with the visitors using five different bowlers in this phase, but without any success, Mandhana and Verma then went for the big shots to end the contest. quickly.
In total, Mandhana hit eight fours and two sixes off the 40 balls he faced, while Verma hit three fours off 25 balls.
South Africa had won the first match by 12 runs before the second T20I was swept on Saturday.
Previously, only three South African batsmen managed to score in double figures, with Tazmin Brits (20 off 23 balls) being their top scorer.
Openers Laura Wolvaardt (9 off 9 balls) and the British could only muster 19 runs for the first wicket.
When Shreyanka Patil dismissed Wolvaardt in the fourth over, the British pair and Marizanne Kapp (10 off 8 balls) added 11 runs for the second wicket.
Interestingly, the Indians used four different bowlers in the first four overs.
Kapp fell in the fifth over as it became Vastrakar's 50th wicket in the format. Next to go for South Africa were the British with Deepti Sharma grabbing her precious wicket in the eighth over, when the score read 45 for three.
In the same, Deepti dropped Chloe Tryon, as the host's string of poor fielding continued in the third consecutive match.
However, the visitors struggled for a proper partnership, having dominated with the bat in the previous two outings.
They lost their next two wickets with a score of 61 in the 11th over, thanks to Vastrakar exploiting the wicket.
Midway through the innings, it was evident that the track didn't have much for the batsmen, with spongy bounce and soft spin.
Also, the rain in the city in the last few days had dampened the ground, causing Vastrakar to have slight changes to his average pace, which actually bothered the South Africans.
Things just got worse for South Africa as they lost their remaining five wickets for just 23 runs.
