IND-W vs SA-W

That is it from the first match of this multi-format series. India were comprehensive and have secured a 1-0 lead in the 3-match ODI series. The next match would be played at the same venue, Chinnaswamy, on the coming Wednesday. It will be a do-or-die one for the visitors and the hosts would be looking to secure the series. We will be there bringing you all the action. For now, this is Sourabh and Arya taking your leave. You can follow the T20 WC contest between Pakistan and Ireland going on live right here.

Smriti Mandhana (Player of the match) : Really happy because we won, nothing more important than that. To start off the tournament with a 100-run victory, it is really good. We have been playing T20s for the last few months so it was a challenge to play the grounded shots. Today a few wickets fell, so credit to Deepti and Pooja to get those partnerships. I don't think so (if there is pressure of quick wickets), today it was not as if the batters got set and then got out. In the one-day format it is important that any of the batter plays the long innings so really happy to be doing that.

Harmanpreet Kaur (India Women captain) : Good start because of Smriti and Deepti, Pooja also made a good contribution. Really happy with the energy we showed today. Message was very clear, keep backing ourselves. We have a good batting line-up, 6 or 7 batters. In every match, everyone cannot contribute. Today Smriti, Pooja and Deepti contributed. They (the all-rounders) love this format, more time to execute our skills. We always knew we were going in with 5 bowlers. Myself, Hema or Shefali would bowl if needed, I hope Pooja is fine.

Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa Women captain) : Yeah not the ideal way to start the series. There were few positives. It was fairly chasabale to be honest. We only had the five out and out bowlers. We could have been a bit better with our control but I thought 265 wasn't bad. We lost our way with the bat. No I won't say that, being 30/3 is not ideal. Whatever I got out or Tazmin got out earlier whatever but it didn't work for the back end. Well definitely, we have to regroup. We didn't find a way to dismiss Smriti Mandhana.

Asha Sobhana: I just kept it simple. Wanted to bowl in the right areas. I was in good rhythm and just wanted to continue. I have been practicing leg spin for a long time so I just stuck to the basics and bowled according to my strengths. There was lot of turn on the wicket. I tried to not give too much space to the batter. Just wanted to vary the pace so that the batters dony have time to get used to my variations. This stadium is very special for me. Bangalore is always special. By the grace of God everything went well. Pitch is amazing, bit of my work went into it as well. Not really, I woke up in the morning and prayed to God that everything goes well and I am glad everything went well. They just told me to enjoy, they had a lot of confidence on my skills and asked me to explode. Not really thinking about the fifer. Most important is to contribute to my team's win.

India Women defeat South Africa Women by 143 runs

Smriti Mandhana 117(127) | Asha Sobhana - 4/21 (8.4)
Sune Luus 33(58) | Ayabonga Khaka - 3/47 (10)

A dominant performance from the Indian women in all the three departments sees them take a 1-0 lead in the 3-match ODI series against the South Africa women who have been outplayed by a team which was far superior to them on the day.

South Africa had India on the floor in the first innings at 99/5 and there is when one thought that the visitors had a great opportunity to start this three-format tour on a positive note. But unfortunately for them, they let that chance go and India showed why they are rated as a high-quality team in the women's circuit.

Smriti Mandhana was the star with the bat and she compiled a well-made century, her 6th one in the format. She stitched valuable partnerships with the lower order, the likes of Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar put their heads down along with the opener and got India to what seemed like a good total of 265 at the halfway mark.

Chasing 266, South Africa got off to the worst possible start losing their skipper and their best batter, Laura Wolvaardt, in the very first over when she was castled by a beauty from Renuka. The South Africans never really managed to recover from that blow as the Indian bowlers kept things very tight and kept piling on the pressure. Pooja Vastrakar got the reward from the other end as South Africa were 2-down soon after.

After a tight spell from both the ends from the seamers, Harmanpreet tossed the ball to her spinners and they did not disappoint at all. The likes of Deepti, Radha and debutant Asha applied the stranglehold on the Proteas' innings and made life tough for the batters. Wickets kept falling at regular intervals as Deepti joined in on the act soon.

The onus was then on the two most experienced batters for South Africa, Luus and Kapp, who stitched a 49-run partnership but that too was pretty tough going. Kapp was removed by the debutant Asha and then the flood gates opened. 

There was turn on offer and the leg-spinner, Asha, extracted every bit of it. The South African got bogged down in the middle and that that piled up even more pressure on themselves and eventually they succumbed to it. Deepti got a couple of wickets, Radha got 1 but the leg-spinner Asha got the most out of the turn that was on offer and cleaned up the tail bagging 4 wickets in the end.

37.4 Asha Sobhana to Ayabonga Khaka, WICKET! India records a massive 143 run victory and Asha Sobhana finishes with figures of 4/21. That was a slowish good-length leg break around middle and leg, Khaka tries to paddle it around the corner, ends up getting a top edge and Richa Ghosh completes the catch comfortably.

Ayabonga Khaka c Richa Ghosh b Asha Sobhana 0(7b, 0x4, 0x6).

37.3 Asha Sobhana to Ayabonga Khaka, flighted leg break around middle, squeeze away off the outside edge towards the backward point fielder. 

37.2 Asha Sobhana to Sinalo Jafta, a flatter and quicker wrong un around the middle stump which has been worked away towards the deep square leg region and takes a single, 

A wrist spinner would more often than not do the job against the tail and if it is someone bowling as well as Asha is, it is more likely to be rather quick. India are just 1 wicket away now from a 1-0 lead.

Ayabonga Khaka, RHB, comes in at 11.