Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) [India], October 10 : Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur praised South Africa's Chloe Tryon and Nadine de Klerk for their impressive batting in their fixture in the ongoing Women's World Cup, saying they deserved the win. She acknowledged India's collapse in batting but appreciated their total of 250.
De Klerk's majestic half-century powered South Africa to a thrilling victory by three wickets over India in the ongoing Women's World Cup, despite an early batting collapse in Visakhapatnam on Thursday.
"Tough game. Both teams played really well. Even though we collapsed while batting, we still managed to put 250 on the board. In the end, Chloe and de Klerk batted; they showed it was a very good pitch, and they deserved to win with the way they batted. The way she was hitting, it was very pleasing to us; she plays the big shots and got us to that total. As a top order, we didn't take responsibility and bat well. It is a long tournament, today was a tough game for us,a lot of positives and learnings for us. Keep doing the hard work and improving," Harmanpreet Kaur said after the match.
South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt also praised Nadine de Klerk's incredible batting, saying she's "lost for words" after their thrilling win. Wolvaardt acknowledged that India put up a strong fight, particularly Richa Ghosh's impressive batting.
Ghosh played a brilliant knock of 94 to help India post a respectable total of 251. Coming in at No. 8, Ghosh's 94 became the highest score by a number eight batter in Women's ODI World Cup history.
Sneh Rana provided valuable support with a crucial cameo, adding 88 runs alongside Ghosh to revive the innings before India lost quick wickets in the final overs to be bowled out.
Rana and Ghosh's 88-run partnership is IND-W's highest for the 8th wicket in WODIs, breaking the previous record of 76 between Sushma Verma and Vastrakar.
"That was incredible. I have not seen something like that in my career. I am still lost for words. We found ourselves in a pickle. We were always ahead of them and knew that if we could get one partnership, then we would win. She is hitting the ball like that in the nets. She batted really well with the lower order. Richa batted incredibly well, she is one of the best batters at the death in the world and really tough to contain her. Our pace bowlers bowled really well, the ball came on well when they were bowling," Laura Wolvaardt said.
Nadine de Klerk was named Player of the Match. She expressed her elation after South Africa's thrilling win over India. She praised the team's resilience and determination, especially her partnership with Chloe Tryon, which proved crucial in chasing down India's total.
The duo of de Klerk and Tryon added crucial 69 runs for the seventh wicket.
"Yeah, look, at the moment, I'm lost for words. We've done a lot of good things over the last couple of days. Just to finish the game off, try and dig deep, give ourselves the best chance and hopefully this gives a lot of confidence to our crew in the future. I do love being under pressure. I love World Cups as well. And I've got to know the effect of playing India at home. We knew that we had to be at our very best today. And they reached 250, which is quite a substantial total. It's great to get over the line, and it just shows that we're capable of hitting the big sides and putting up a massive fight as well. When me and Chloe got together, we knew we just had to take it deep. We always said that I feel like we're a really good side in the back 10 overs. So we just said even if we need 10 runs in the last 5-6 overs, we've got ourselves to get there. We got a great partnership with Chloe. She's got a lot of pressure off me and Laura as well. So I think it just all came together. We probably left a little too much towards the back end. I'm really glad it came off today, and I'm sure there's going to be a lot of positives going into the next game. I'm quite natural (referring to her six-hitting). I think that is my role within the side, to come in at number eight and try and put the opposition under pressure and finish off games. Today I had quite a lot of time, so it was just to get myself in. I knew that it looked like a quite good wicket. I knew if I just gave myself a chance, that we were going to end up on the winning side, or at least give ourselves the best chance to finish it off," Nadine de Klerk said.
The result gave South Africa its second consecutive victory, while India suffered its first defeat of the tournament.
Brief score: India Women 251/10 (Richa Ghosh 94, Pratika Rawal 37; Nonkululeko Mlaba 2/46). Vs South Africa Women 252/7 (Nadine de Klerk 84*, Laura Wolvaardt 70; Sneh Rana 2/47).