India 84 for 1 (Trisha 44*, Chalke 26*, Reyneke 1-14) beat South Africa 82 all out (van Voorst 23, Trisha 3-15, Sisodia 2-6, Shukla 2-9) by nine wickets
After captain Kayla Reyneke opted to bat, South Africa started strongly in the first over with opener Jemma Botha belting two fours in the off VJ Joshitha. But trouble began as early as the second over with Sisodia having Simone Lourens bowled for a duck, with a skiddy delivery that deflected off the batter’s pads and onto the stumps.
India put the brakes on almost instantly after that, but Botha – South Africa’s top-scorer of the tournament – once again displayed her quality, hitting Joshitha for a four down the ground. With Shabnam Shakil’s introduction in the fourth over came the crucial wicket of Botha, thanks to a stunning catch by wicketkeeper G Kamalini, who threw herself to the right to grab a one-hander.
One brought two for India, as left-arm spinner Shukla struck first ball in the very next over, having Diara Ramlakan bowled with a straighter one for 3. At the end of the powerplay, South Africa were in trouble at 29 for 3.
India’s spinners maintained the stranglehold on their opposition, drying up the runs in the middle overs, with no boundaries scored between seven and 14. In that passage, two more wickets fell, with Trisha removing Reyneke for 7 and Shukla taking her second by knocking Karabo Meso’s middle stump.
Mieke van Voorst, South Africa’s highest scorer in the game, broke the pressure with the team’s first boundary in 56 balls, and went on to hit a couple more. But Trisha’s double-strike in the 18th over once again pegged South Africa back, with both van Voorst and Seshnie Naidu getting out trying to go for big shots.
Fay Cowling then hit the first and only six of the game, but Vaishnavi recovered very well removing Cowling and Monalisa Legodi, both bowled trying to sweep, in the same over. Sisodia removed Ashleigh van Wyk off the last ball of the innings as South Africa lost five wickets in 14 balls to crumble to 82 all out. India were also superb on the field, especially with their ground fielding, with only one difficult return catch missed by Trisha.
India charged at the total from the first over, with Trisha hitting three fours off the first five balls she faced. She took on legspinner Naidu for three fours in the fourth over as well. Reyneke then broke through, having Kamalini caught at long-on, but India did not slow down even then. Sanika Chalke joined Trisha and brought out a classy cover drive off her fourth ball as India mowed down more than half of the total within the powerplay.
Trisha was dropped on 38 in the covers in the 10th over, but even a wicket wouldn’t have made much of a difference with India needing just 16 runs. Chalke wrapped it all up for India in the 12th over with a boundary and Trisha finished as the highest-run scorer of the tournament with 309 runs and was named the Player of the Match and the Player of the Tournament.
Sruthi Ravindranath is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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