Indian women’s team produced a clinical all-round performance to beat South Africa by 88 runs in the first ODI at Diamond Oval in Kimberley.
Electing to bat, India started well with a fifty-run partnership between openers Punam Raut and Smriti Mandhana. Raut was dismissed for 19. But Mandhana then hit eight boundaries and a six in her 98-ball innings and shared a 99-run stand with skipper Mithali Raj (45) to help India post 213 for seven in their allotted 50 overs.
Chasing 214 for a win, South Africa failed to score fluently and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Only captain Dane van Niekerk stood out with a resilient 88-ball 41 as just four South Africa batters reached double figures.
It was Shikha Pandey (3/23) and Poonam Yadav (2/22) who dismissed the top-four within no time before Goswami came in to clear the rest of the batting. Veteran Goswami took 4 wickets for 24.
