SA rested Marizanne Kapp, Tumi Sekhukhune, and Nondumiso Shangase, who all featured in the fifth and final ODI on Wednesday
South Africa women 133 for 2 (Bosch 66*, Luus 43 )beat India women 130 for 6 (Deol 52, Ridrigues 30, Ismail 3-14) by eight wickets.
A maiden unbeaten fifty in T20 internationals from Anneke Bosch in the series opener on Saturday to follow up on her maiden ODI half-century in the series-ender of the 50-over leg three days ago helped South Africa extend their four-match winning streak on their tour of India. Aided in no small part by the second-wicket stand between Bosch and stand-in captain Sune Luus, South Africa’s superlative fielding and the five wickets between Bosche and Shabnim Ismail, the visitors closed out a 131-chase in the first T20I in Lucknow.
With South Africa needing 14 off the last two overs, Bosch lent the closing minutes of the chase an air of imminence that characterised the best part of their innings – and their batting since their arrival in India last month – bunting two insouciant fours in that period, the second of those sealing their wight-wicket win with five balls to spare.
India, led by stand-in captain Smriti Mandhana in the absence of designated T20I skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, were pegged back at various points of their defense by their uninspiring fielding, which had also played a decisive role in their 4-1 loss in the ODI series. Allrounder Harleen Deol’s maiden international fifty and 1 for 21, Jemimah Rodrigues 27-ball 30 runs, and 21-year-old debutant wicketless four overs for 21 runs, however, might inspire a better performance as they look to break out of their funk in the second T20I, on Sunday, even as concerns over the availability of both Mandhana and Kaur loom.
more to follow…
Annesha Ghosh is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @ghosh_annesha