Ebullient hundreds of Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur were nearly upended by remarkable centuries from Laura Wolvaardt and Marizanne Kapp but India kept their nerves to beat South Africa by four runs in a last-over thriller to take an unassailable 2-0 in ODI series here Wednesday.
India had beaten South Africa by 143 runs in the first match here on Sunday.
It was a matter of margin once India posted an imposing 325 for three, riding on Mandhana’s 136 (120b, 18×4, 2×6) and Harmanpreet’s unbeaten 103 (88b, 9×4, 3×6), their seventh and sixth one-day tons respectively.
However, the Proteas fought back through Kapp (114, 94b, 11×4, 3×6) and Wolvaardt (135 not out, 135b, 12×4 3×6), who added 184 runs off 170 balls for the fourth wicket, but could manage 321 for six.
The Chinnaswamy pitch stayed truer as compared to the previous match, and the Indian bowlers had to be precise in their line and length on this day to be effective.
They did just that. At no point, the home bowlers allowed SA batters a free run, picking up wickets at regular intervals.
Pacer Arundhati Reddy, who replaced Renuka Singh, gave India a good beginning, beating the defence of Tazmin Brits with a delivery that came in by that bit.
However, Mandhana gave crowd the moment of the day when she accounted for Sune Luus, caught behind by Richa Ghosh, to bag her maiden international wicket.
That brought together Wolvaardt and Kapp, who resisted the Indian spinners with excellent footwork and shot selection.