Nadine de Klerk smashed an unbeaten 84 off 54 balls as South Africa relegated India to their first defeat within the 2025 Ladies’s World Cup at Vizag on Thursday. The Protea batter paced the chase beautifully and targetted the correct bowlers to make sure India suffered a 3-wicket loss. At 81/5 within the twentieth over, India regarded good to clinch their third win in as many matches. However the Proteas girls paced their chase to perfection, and Kranti Gaud’s forty seventh over, which went for 18 runs, turned the match on its head.
Some may be of the opinion that the match ought to have by no means gone so far as it did when India had been 102-6, with all their top-order batters and Deepti Sharma again within the hut. However then got here a counterattacking innings for the ages. Richa Ghosh, who as soon as once more batted at quantity eight, introduced the hosts again into the match. She first placed on 51 runs for the seventh wicket to stabilise the innings, nevertheless it was her blistering stand of 88 runs from 53 balls with Sneh Rana that pushed South Africa effectively and actually on the again foot.
The wicketkeeper-batter fell within the last over of the innings for 94 off 77 balls, and by the point she returned to the pavilion, India had reached a rating which might have given them some hope.
“Robust recreation. Each groups performed very well. Though we collapsed whereas batting however we nonetheless managed to place 250 on the board. Ultimately, Chloe and de Klerk batted, they confirmed it was an excellent pitch they usually deserved to win with the way in which they batted. The way in which she was hitting, it was very pleasing us, she performs the massive pictures and received us to that complete. As a prime order we didn’t take duty and bat effectively,” India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur mentioned after the match.
Each groups stay in Vizag for his or her subsequent match. India will face Australia on Sunday whereas South Africa will tackle Bangladesh on Monday.