Indian leg-spinner Asha Sobhana picked four crucial wickets in the first ODI to restrict South Africa to just 122 and wrap the game in 37.4 overs. India hosted South Africa in the first ODI fixture of the multi-series tour on Sunday, June 16, at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
South African women, under the captaincy of Laura Wolvaardt, are in India for a multi-format series consisting of three ODIs, one Test, and three T20I games. In the first game on Sunday, Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and invited the rivals to field first.
The hosts, who were looking forward to dominating the game right from the beginning had a shaky start. Just when the Women in Blue seemed to have surrendered to a determined South African bowling line-up, Indian vice-captain Smriti Mandhana took steering in her hands, and while keeping her nerves calm, came up with a significant knock of 117 runs off 127 deliveries.
The Indian women put on a decent target of 266 runs for their rivals, which the Proteas women failed to chase miserably. Debutant Asha Sobhana came up with a brilliant spell and ended up with the figures of 4/21 to restrict the guests to just 122 runs. The hosts registered a huge 143-run win and gained a 1-0 lead in the series. In their next match, both sides will meet on June 19 at the same venue.