India’s tour of South Africa finally started after the 1st T20I getting washed out as Durban. South Africa won the toss in the 2nd T20I and chose to bowl. Indian openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill got out for a duck becoming the 2nd Indian opening pair to get out for a duck (1st pair – Rahane & Rohit vs Pakistan, Asia Cup 2016).
Suryakumar Yadav’s fifty brought back team India into the match. He also became the joint fastest Indian with Virat Kohli to complete 2000 runs in T20Is (56 innings). Rinku Singh took charge in the slog overs and pushed India to a good total. He scored his first fifty in the International Cricket and pushed India to 180 in 19.3 overs. The rain interrupted for an hour bringing India’s innings to a close. Gerald Coetzee took 3/32 while Tabraiz Shamsi bowled an economical spell of 1/18 in 4 overs.
With an hour lost in the rain, South Africa had a revised target of 152 in 15 overs. Hendricks and Breetzke started with a bang scoring 24 runs in Arshdeep Singh’s first over. Captain Markram joined the party after the fall of Breetzke and helped South Africa score 67 runs in the Powerplay of five overs. The Proteas kept the momentum of scoring 10-12 runs every over. Hendricks got out on 49 missing his seventh T20I fifty. Miller and Stubbs played timely cameos that eased off the target resulting in South Africa beating India by 5 wickets with 7 balls to spare. Mukesh Kumar took 2/32 and was the pick of the bowlers for India.
Team India will be in a must-win situation on Thursday, 14th December when they face South Africa in the 3rd T20I at Johannesburg.
Team India Women are all set to play their first test at home in nearly 10 years as they host England from Thursday
Team India Women will be gearing up for a historic test match at D. Y. Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai against England from Thursday, 14th December 2023. It will be the first women’s test match in India since November 2014. It will also be the first ever test match at this venue as well.
India is coming into this game after losing the T20I series 2-1 to the visitors. It was England’s sixth T20I series win against India. India will be hoping to replicate the good performance they showed against England in the 2021 Test match they played in June 2021 at Bristol. Shafali Verma who won the ‘Player of the Match’ in that Test for her two fifties will be hoping to replicate the same. Sneh Rana who has not been a regular in India recently will be hoping to showcase her all-round skills as she showed in the 2021 series.
India has played 20 tests at Home winning two, losing two, and 16 others finishing in a draw. England have played five tests in India winning one in 1995 and drawing the rest four. It will be their first test against India since 2005.
Looking back to the last test Indian women played in India back in 2014 against South African women in Mysore, only Harmanpreet Kaur and Rajeshwari Gaikwad are the two players who find themselves in this current series squad. Harmanpreet Kaur will be leading the test side for the first time. Saika Ishaque, Richa Ghosh, Shubha Sateesh, Renuka Singh, and Titus Sadhu have all got their first call-up on the test side. Except for a few names to make their debut in the test match tomorrow.
England on the other side got an experienced side in Captain Heather Knight, Danni Wyatt, Tammy Beaumont, Nat Sciver – Brunt, and a few others. Alice Capsey and Bess Heath have got their first call up to the test side. England will be looking forward to giving a good fight and finishing the tour on a high.
The Only Test between India Women and England Women will be a four-day test between 14-17 December 2023 and will be held at D.Y. Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai. Coverage will be available on Sports18 and JioCinema.
The Off Stump 