ICC Women's World Cup 2017: Twitter Reacts As South Africa Ends India's Winning Run 1

India’s four-match winning streak in the ongoing ICC Women’s World Cup came to an end with a heavy 115-run loss against South Africa on Saturday (July 8). South Africa skipper  Dane van Niekerk was the star of the match, scoring a brilliant half-century before taking 4 for 22 to help her team inflict the first defeat on the high-flying Indian team in the tournament.

Chasing 274, Mithali Raj & Co. were deprived off a good start once again with Smriti Mandhana falling for a single-digit score for the third time in a row. The left-hander was sent back for just 4 in the very second over by Marizanne Kapp but a 43-run stand between Punam Raut and Deepti Sharma steadied the ship. However, India’s innings completely derailed once Ayabonga Khaka dismissed Raut for 22. Wickets kept on falling like a pack of cards as none of the following batswomen could cross the single-digit mark. Dane van Niekerk was the destructor-in-chief dismissing her in-form Indian counterpart Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur for a duck. From 47 for 1, the women in Blue were reduced to 53 for 5 and never recovered from those huge setbacks, eventually folding up for 158 in 46 overs.

Deepti Sharma and Jhulan Goswami top-scored for the team with 60 and 43 not out respectively.

Earlier, opening batswoman Lizelle Lee’s 92 and Dane van Niekerk’s 57 had propelled the South African to 273 for 9 in the allotted 50 overs. After being invited to bat first by Mithali Raj, the African team went off to a disastrous start with Shikha Pandey cleaning up Laura Wolvaardt for just 1. A 91-run stand between Lee and Trisha Chetty then calmed down the nerves in the South African dressing room before Ekta Bisht ended the promising partnership by dismissing the latter for 24.

At 150 for 3 in the 26th over, van Niekerk & Co. were well-set for a good total but losing wickets at regular intervals hurt their cause.  Mignon du Preez and Marizanne Kapp returned in quick succession to leave the team reeling at 162 for 5 but van Niekerk shared useful partnerships with the tail-enders to power her team to a challenging total.

Here is how Twitter reacted to the match:

https://twitter.com/RajkumariJessy/status/883718724464914433