India overcome resilient South Africa to win one-off women’s Test by 10 wickets
Chennai, July 1
India were made to wait a tad longer for the winning moment by centurion Laura Wolvaardt but crossed the finish line in style as they won by 10 wickets on the fourth and final day of the one-off women’s Test against South Africa here today.
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India have won all three Test matches under Harmanpreet Kaur’s captaincy. She is the first woman to win their first three Tests as captain
They did not give us an easy win and we had to work hard for it. Credit goes to Smriti and Shafali who set up a platform for us. Everyone in the team, they contributed well with the bat. The way we fielded, it was not easy to field for so many overs. Hats off to our bowlers, especially our spinners. Harmanpreet Kaur, india captain
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Laura Wolvaardt brought up her maiden Test century, also becoming the first woman to score a ton each in Tests, ODIs and T20Is in the same year
India were required to chase a modest 37 after bowling out South Africa for 373 in their second innings and the hosts accomplished the task in 9.2 overs without losing a wicket. India had declared their first innings at 603/6.
Reassured India never had doubts about winning
Spinner Sneh Rana said India were always confident of closing out the match despite the South African fightback in the second innings of the one-off Test here today.
Despite their early domination, India had to wait till the fourth and final day of the Test for the eventual 10-wicket victory.
“Are you demotivating us? (chuckles) We had positive vibes throughout (the match) and it never did cross our minds that South Africa was taking the game away from us,” Rana said in the post-match press meet.
“The match was always inclined towards India. We kept believing that we could take a wicket anytime, and that’s exactly what happened,” she added.
Rana said it was all about keeping calm when the South Africans were offering resistance. “There will be phases during Tests when the opposition will build partnerships. But to keep ourselves calm and keep our minds going, we chirped and cracked jokes among ourselves which helped in keeping us awake,” she said.
She didn’t get too deep into the pitch talk. “Conditions were difficult (for the bowlers), but you get more or less similar conditions everywhere nowadays,” she added. PTI
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Sneh Rana bagged 10 wickets in the match for 188 runs, the second-best Test bowling figures by an Indian in Tests after former pacer Jhulan Goswami’s 10/78
The opening duo of Shubha Satheesh (13 not out) and Shafali Verma (24 not out) steered their side home comfortably.
This is India’s second 10-wicket triumph in Tests after a scoring a similar win over the Proteas at Paarl in 2002.
After putting up 266 in their first innings, South Africa fought well through ton-up Wolvaardt (122 off 314 balls) and Sune Luus (109 off 203 balls) in their second innings.
However, they could only delay the inevitable.
Resuming at the overnight score of 232/2, and trailing India by 105 runs, Wolvaardt and Marizanne Kapp appeared to be in good touch.
The former brought up her maiden Test century, also becoming the first woman batter to score a Test, ODI and T20I tons in the same year.
However, Kapp was soon trapped leg-before by Deepti Sharma for 31, while Sneh Rana ousted Delmi Tucker for a duck as the tourists slipped to 266/4.
With work to be done for the South Africans to take the lead, Wolvaardt tried to anchor the innings but was dismissed for 122 when Rajeshwari Gayakwad trapped her in front to reduce the visitors to 281/5.
But the Proteas marched on and went past the 300-run mark, their highest team total in Tests against the Indians. The previous best was the 266 that was made in their opening innings here.
South Africa needed less than 50 runs to take the lead at this stage. Nadine de Klerk and Sinalo Jafta stuck together until the lunch break and they were 302/5 then.
However, in the post-lunch session, Jafta retired hurt due to cramps as the visitors sent Anne Dercksen to join De Klerk. But Dercksen departed for five, falling to Pooja Vastrakar with SA trailing by 27 runs.
Although South Africa closed in on taking a lead, they struggled to get the partnerships going.
The next stand was worth 14 runs between De Klerk and Tumi Sekhukhune before the latter was run out for six. Jafta returned to bat but could add just nine more runs and departed for 15 and they went to tea at 336/8.
