Chole Tryon’s unbeaten half-century, South Africa won the women’s tri-series

Chole Tryon struck an unbeaten 57 as South Africa beat India by five wickets with two overs to spare in the final to clinch the women’s T20 International tri-series here on Thursday. The Indian women’s team found it very difficult to bat on a slow pitch, due to which they could only score 109 runs after losing four wickets while batting after winning the toss. Harleen Deol played very slow.

He scored 46 runs in 56 balls. South Africa won by scoring 113 runs for five wickets in 18 overs thanks to a 32-ball innings by Chole Tryon. Chole Tryon hit six fours and two sixes during his innings, including the winning six. The Indian bowlers, however, got off to a good start as they dismissed two South African players for 15 runs. But an unbroken 47-run partnership for the sixth wicket between Chole Trianon and Nadine de Klerk (17 not out) gave them the trophy with 12 balls to spare. Sneh Rana took two wickets for 21 runs in her four overs while Deepti Sharma, Renuka Singh and Rajeshwari Gaikwad claimed one wicket each.

Earlier, after winning the toss and electing to bat, the start of the Indian team was not good. He first lost the wicket of stylish batsman Smriti Mandhana, who could not even open the account. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur (21 runs) seemed to be getting into rhythm after batting for a while but she also reached the ‘dug-out’. Harleen played a lot of ‘dot’ balls which put pressure on Deepti Sharma (16 not out from 14 balls) and she too could not hit many shots.

More than that, India made no effort to dominate the fast bowlers and Harleen just played to stay at the crease and lost her wicket in the final over. For South Africa, left-arm spinner Nankululeko Malaba took two wickets for 16 runs in four overs and performed brilliantly in the powerplay. Mandhana could not open her account even after playing seven balls and was bowled by Malaba.

Another opener Jemimah Rodrigues (11 off 18 balls) and Harleen found it difficult to play Malaba and experienced pacer Shabnim Ismail (0/9 in three overs). The two South African bowlers combined to bowl 25 dot balls as India could only add 19 runs in six overs of the powerplay. Apart from Malaba, Ayabonga Khaka and Sune Luce took one wicket each. The Indian team played a total of 57 ‘dots’ which is 9.3 overs, most of which were played by Harleen. The team hit only nine fours during the innings.