De Klerk trumps Ghosh as South Africa sneak victory against India to continue their unbeaten run vs India in World Cups.
Nadine de Klerk smashed an unbeaten 84 off 54 balls to hand India their first defeat in the World Cup.
South Africa won the first thriller of the Women’s World Cup when Nadine de Klerk’s career-best 84* defeated Richa Ghosh’s counterpunching 94 in the duel of No.8s. In a game where the advantage switched sides multiple times and was tense, South Africa finished with the fifth-highest successful chase in World Cup history and their eighth-highest in women’s ODIs.
When batting, India got off to a strong start with a powerplay score of 55 before South Africa dominated the following 16 overs and reduced India to 102 for 6. Before Ghosh and Sneh Rana, who made a cameo of 33 off 24 balls, helped India to a competitive score, Ghosh and Amanjot Kaur put up 51 for the seventh wicket. India may have taken the wind out of South Africa’s sails with their 98-run total in their final ten overs.
Given how badly their response began, it appeared that way. They appeared to be out of the game at 81 for 5 in the 20th over. South Africa still required 41 runs off 25 balls after Tryon was removed, despite Laura Wolvaardt and Chloe Tryon putting on 61 for the sixth wicket and de Klerk and Tryon sharing a 69-run partnership. With seven balls remaining, De Klerk led South Africa to triumph with 39 runs off the next 15 balls she faced. Despite having a lower net run-rate than India and England, South Africa rose to fourth place in the points table.