Smriti Mandhana might just wish to carry Bengaluru pitch with her everywhere after the bilateral series with South Africa Women. The Indian star batter tormented South Africa throughout the series with back-to-back hundreds. She looked set for another but fell short, still became Player of the Series with sensational 343 runs and one wicket with the ball.
Changing the routine in this series, South Africa Women won the toss and elected to bat first. Captain Laura Wolvaardt started off aggressively scoring 61 runs from 57 balls. But other opener Tazmin Brits struggled and scored only 38 from 66 balls. At this moment, India took wickets in a heap and controlled South African aggression. With great difficulty, SA reached 215/8 in their 50 Overs.
In the chase, Indian opener Smriti Mandhana again took the onus of scoring on her shoulders. She kept finding boundaries consistently, while Shafali Verma(25), Priya Punia(28) supported her. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur(42) continued her form and kept scoreboard ticking.
Smriti Mandhana missed out on a well-deserved century and fell 10 runs short. She scored 90 runs from 83 balls. Jemimah Rodrigues(19) finished the game for India to complete the whitewash with 3-0 scoreline. They won the match by 6 wickets scoring 220/4 in 40.4 overs. Now, India Women will play South Africa in Chennai for 3 T20Is.