Shafali Verma and Sneh Rana highlighted India Women’s 10-wicket win against South Africa Women in a one-off Test. India W chased the 37-run target without any trouble with Shafali hitting 24 of them.

Shafali scored a total of 229 runs in the match including 205 in the first innings – the fastest double Test hundred in Women’s Tests. Rana, on the other hand, took a 10-wicket haul in the match. She scalped eight wickets in the first innings and two in the second innings.

In the match, India became the first side ever to score 600+ in an innings in Women’s Test and declared at 603/6 in the first innings. Apart from Shafali, Smriti Mandhana also hit 149 in India’s first innings while Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh chipped in with a fifty each.

Proteas Women scored 266 in the first innings and were asked to follow on. In their second innings, SA Women scored 373, thanks to hundreds by Laura Wolvaardt and Sune Luus. While Wolvaardt scored 122, Luus contributed 109. The score, however, wasn’t enough for South Africa to evade a humiliating defeat.

Speaking after the match, India coach Amol Mazumadar said: “Luus and Wolvaardt played really well. Credit to them, but hats off to our girls as well. They stuck it out, fought hard and every wicket was earnt. Credit to every single player, even the reserve players.”

Skipper Kaur also agreed with the coach and acknowledged that it was a hard win.

“It was not easy. They batted really well. They did not give us an easy win and we had to work hard for it. Credit goes to Smriti and Shafali who set up a platform for us. Everyone in the team, they contributed well with the bat. The way we fielded, it was not easy to field for so many overs. Hats off to our bowlers, especially our spinners. They kept bowling and had that belief that they could take those wickets to win us the game. All of them,” said Kaur.

The two teams will now have a three T20I series starting Friday (Jul 5).

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