Chandigarh: India women remain alive in the three-match T20I series against South Africa women as the second tie of the series in Chennai was abandoned following rain-interruptions on Sunday. SA lead the series 1-0. India will come out determined on Tuesday in the last match of the series in a bid to level the series while the visitors who have shown on the tour that the shortest format is their favourite, will aim for 2-0 series triumph after losing both ODI and the solitary Test.

The win in the first T20I raised South Africa’s confidence against India. They showed their batting prowess after winning the toss, amassing 177/6 in 20 overs with top order Tazmin Brits (52 off 39b), Laura Wolvaardt (22 off 12b) and Marizanne Kapp (20 off 14b) providing a flying start to their team. SA batters were in top-notch form, taking 66 runs off the first six overs while losing captain Wolvaardt’s wicket. Britz, who smashed 81 in the last game, looked in blazing form after she got a reprieve early in the innings. The Indian bowlers struggled to slow down the run-flow.

After losing the first game, India made four changes to the team, one being resting Richa Ghosh, who suffered a head injury in the last game, and bringing in wicket-keeper Uma Chetry for her T20I debut. India also brought in Arundhati Reddy to replace medium-pacer Renuka Singh, while D Hemalatha was replaced by Sajana Sajeevan, known for her T20 skills. In addition to this, India opted to replace leg-spinner Asha Sobhana with allrounder Shreyanka Patil.

It was spinner Deepti Sharma who provided two crucial breakthroughs to India in the form of Britz and Kapp in the 14th and ninth overs, respectively.

In a late surge, SA collected 31 runs off the final two overs to reach 177. Batting at No.4, Anneke Bosch hit a 32-ball 40 to lift SA. Pooja Vastrakar also grabbed two wickets for India, giving away 37 runs. Patil and Radha Yadav did take a wicket apiece but leaked too many runs. Annerie Dercksen hit 12 off three balls while Nadine de Klerk contributed 14 off nine for SA.

India did not face a single ball due to wet conditions.

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