India vs South Africa: Harmanpreet Kaur-Led Women's Team Eyes First Double Series Win
The Indian women already have an unassailable 2-1 lead in the series, with one match to play.
Highlights
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The fifth and final T20I will be played at Cape Town
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India will aim to become the 1st side to win 2 series on a single SA tour
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India had won the ODI series 2-1
The Indian women's team has displayed a top-class performance against South Africa in the on-going T20 International series and in the recently-concluded One-Day International (ODI) series, which they won 2-1. With an unassailable 2-1 lead in the five-match T20 series, the Indians would go for the home run when they take on the hosts for the final T20 game at Cape Town and aim to achieve a double series win. India had completely outclassed their opponents in the first two games by registering a convincing seven and nine-wicket wins respectively. However, South Africa bounced back to win the third match by five wickets to keep the series alive.
The visitors would have tried to seal the series in the fourth T20 match but rain washed out the game with South Africa, batting first, at 130/3 in 15.3 overs.
A victory for the Indian women would give them the bragging rights of being the first side to have won two series on a single tour of South Africa. This win would be a great boost for the young team given the fact that they recently won the T20 series in Australia too.
All eyes will be on veteran Mithali Raj, who has been exceptional in the series so far. She scored two consecutive half-centuries (54, 76) in the first two matches but failed to open her account in the third.
Apart from Mithali, opener Smriti Mandhana has also provided her team with solid start with the scores of 28, 57, 37 in the first three matches.
While captain Harmanpreet Kaur hasn't been impressive with the bat so far in the tour except for her 48 off 30 balls in the third T20, she will have to display her A-game if the top batting-order fails to score any runs.
Squads:
India: H Kaur (capt), T Bhatia, R Dhar, RS Gayakwad, V Krishnamurthy, S Mandhana, S Pandey, AA Patil, Poonam Yadav, NM Parween, M Raj, JI Rodrigues, DB Sharma, P Vastrakar, RP Yadav
South Africa: D van Niekerk (C), T Chetty, M Daniels, N de Klerk, N de Klerk, M du Preez, S Ismail, M Kapp, A Khaka, O Kirsten, M Klaas, L Lee, S Luus, R Ntozakhe, CL Tryon.