Indian women’s team takes lead after defeating South Africa by 54 runs
The Indian women’s Under-19 cricket team put up an all-round performance to beat South Africa by 54 runs in the first T20I to take the lead in the five-match series. This series is considered important for the ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup to be held in South Africa from 14 to 29 January. Openers Shweta Sehrawat and Soumya Tiwari scored 40 off 39 and 46 balls respectively. Scored 40 runs. India scored 137 runs for five wickets when sent to bat first. Captain Shafali Verma, however, was dismissed on the very first ball after which Sehrawat and Tiwary shared a 70-run partnership in 74 balls.
Sehrawat hit five fours in his innings while Tiwari hit three fours and a six. Apart from these two, wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh scored 15 and Titas Sandhu scored 13 not out. Kayla Reineke and Ayanda H took two wickets each for the hosts. In response, the South African team could only manage 83 runs for eight wickets. Medium pacer Shabnam Shakeel took three wickets for 15 runs. South Africa had lost two wickets for 10 runs within three overs and the team could not recover from this shock. Off-spinner Archana Devi took three wickets for 14 runs. Only Reineke (20), Maddison Landsman (10) and Gemma Botha (10 not out) could reach double digits for South Africa. The second match will be played here on Thursday.
