The close contest between India and South Africa in the ongoing Women’s ODI World Cup will forever haunt the Indian cricket fans. After setting a competitive target, India lost the match by three wickets on the match's last ball. While multiple misfielding cost India a lot during the game, a no-ball in the last over was the final nail in the coffin.
Throughout the chase, South Africa held their nerves and finally claimed an important three-wicket win against India that knocked India Women out of the coveted event.
South Africa required three runs to win the match off two balls in the final over. Deepti Sharma, the bowler, dismissed Mignon du Preez, who eventually ended with the Player of the Match award. The batter lofted the ball to long-on that Harmanpreet Kaur comfortably took.
The Indian players started rejoicing as the most dangerous batter of the moment was gone. However, the on-field umpire asked du Preez to wait and then signalled a no-ball.
The most important South African at the ground got a second chance to take her team home, but for Indians, the match was almost over. du Preez hit a four off the final delivery and secured a win for the team and also the semi-final place for West Indies Women.
Earlier, opting to bat, India posted 274/7 in 50 overs as Smriti Mandhana (71) and Shafali Verma (52), Mithali Raj (68), and Harmanpreet Kaur (48) came up with significant contributions with the bat.
However, Kaur was the star performer for India today as she also scalped a couple of wickets and was effective with her fielding as well.
"I personally feel the girls gave it all; it was an important game, was a good game, it ended our campaign, but I'm proud of the girls for coming so far. With the bowlers we had, I thought 275 was a good total; we had defended similar totals in the past," Mithali Raj said.