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India won by 23 runs in their second encounter with South Africa in Tri-Nation ODI Series 2025. With a spectacular century from Jemimah Rodrigues and two half centuries from Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma, India posted a huge total of 337 runs, batting first.
They comfortably defended their total in the second innings, restricting South Africa to only 314 runs with a fall of 7 wickets. Amanjot Kaur played a key role in India's bowling attack by taking crucial wickets that helped in collapsing South Africa’s top-order.
India's batting supremacy in the first innings
India lost the toss and were put to bat first, which did not seem to bother them, as the batters completely owned the first inning. Their batting line-up dominated the entire inning till the very last ball. Even though Pratika Rawal and Harleen Deol did not have any luck with the bat today, Smriti Mandhana, on the other hand, gave a steady start to the team.
The queen of consistency, Smriti, scored a much-needed 51 off 63 balls, accompanied by a stunning cameo from Harmanpreet Kaur, who scored 28 runs from 20 balls. The real game changer was Jemimah Rodrigues and her spectacular knock of 123 from 101 balls which led the foundation for India towards a defendable total.
Then came another sensational knock from Deepti Sharma, who scored a classy 93 runs (from 84 balls) and played beautifully till the last over.
A series of powerful batting performances, with blazing boundaries and a solid start led India to this commendable total of 337 runs, which nearly seemed impossible after the fall of early wickets.
Amanjot Kaur shines in India's bowling effort
India made two changes ahead of the game, by handing debut to the left arm spinner, Shuchi Upadhyay, and bringing back Amanjot Kaur in the playing XI. The changes were in the favour of India, especially with Amanjot Kaur’s three-wicket haul.
Kaur picked up three crucial wickets by dismissing the opening pair with an economy less than 7. The early breakthrough was important as Lara Goodall and Tazmin Brits are the key batters and their partnership build-up could have been a trouble for India in the later stage. She also took the game-changer wicket of Annerie Dercksen in the 46th over, who was explosively taking the asking rate down with her batting.
Other players like Deepti Sharma picked 2 major wickets by bowling a tight line and length, and restricting the run-flow. Sree Charani and Pratika Rawal also took a wicket each.
South Africa’s chase in a must-win scenario
South Africa’s captain, Laura Wolvaardt, did not play in today's match, and as a result, Chloe Tryon was handed the captaincy. SA failed to hold momentum in the game, despite great efforts from Annerie Dercksen, who scored 81 runs off 80 balls.
Even though they managed to take up 9 wickets in the first innings, the bowling unit was overall expensive today. Having a target of 338 runs on board required a good start in the second innings which completely fell short. The fall of early wickets led to top-order collapse, causing difficulties in building long-term partnerships.
The 72-runs partnership between Dercksen and Chloe Tryon, and the 67 runs (from 43 balls) knock from the skipper kept them alive in the game, but Indian bowlers sealed the victory towards the end.
India seals final spot after today's victory, South Africa’s journey ends
India secured their place in the Tri-Nation ODI series final with 3 wins out of 4 matches (6 points total). They will face Sri Lanka in the finals on 11th May, 2025, at R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo.
As for South Africa, another loss today led them to zero points after 3 matches. They will face Sri Lanka in their last match of this series, and winning that will get them to a maximum of 2 points. Therefore, today's match result confirmed South Africa’s Tri-series exit.
Score Summary
IND-W: 337/9 (50) | Jemimah Rodrigues 123; N. de Klerk 9-54-2
SA-W: 314/7 (50) | Annerie Dercksen 81; Amanjot Kaur 9-59-3
Player of the match: Jemimah Rodrigues