India thrashed South Africa in the third and final T20I at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, levelling the series at 1-1 and ensuring the Proteas left their tour of India with just one win in seven matches across formats.

For the third time in a row in the T20I series, South Africa batted first after being put in by India captain Harmanpreet Kaur. After posting 189 for a 12-run win in the first T20I and then 177 before rain washed out the game in the second, the visitors would have been confident about putting up another stiff total.

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Vastrakar, Radha steal the show 

After three tight overs, the fourth yielded a breakthrough as off-spinner Shreyanka Patil induced a false shot from Laura Wolvaardt, which went straight to Arundhati Reddy at mid off. India took a second wicket in the powerplay as Pooja Vastrakar rushed Marizanne Kapp for pace, and the South African No.3 was caught at midwicket.

Opener Tazmin Brits was the next to fall, thanks to a brilliant piece of fielding from captain Kaur off the bowling of Deepti Sharma, for the top score of the innings — 20. Vastrakar then took her second wicket, trapping Anneke Bosch lbw to leave South Africa 61-4 in 10.2 overs.

 

 

Even from that point, the innings was by no means over for the visitors but they crumbled quickly afterwards. Nadine de Klerk, Annerie Dercksen and Chloe Tryon departed in alternate overs to Vastrakar, Radha Yadav and Arundhati Reddy respectively. From 84-7 in 16 overs, India needed just seven more balls to end the innings without conceding any further runs.

All of South Africa's batters from No.5 to No.11 scored single figures and only two Indian bowlers, Shreyanka Patil and Sajeevan Sajana conceded more than a run-a-ball from their spell. Radha finished with 3-6 from her three overs, while Vastrakar notched up career-best figures of 4-13 in T20I cricket.

 

Quickest run-chase in women's T20Is on Indian soil

The second innings saw Marizanne Kapp bowl for the first time on this tour, as she began to increase her workload following an arm injury. Her two overs went for a miserly three runs, but India openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana ensured there were no hiccups in the chase. They flayed the rest of the bowling attack, scoring 27* and 54* respectively to secure a 10-wicket win.

Their completion of the chase in 10.5 overs (i.e., with 55 balls to spare) made it the quickest chase achieved in women's T20I history on Indian soil. The previous record was also held by India, who secured a 9-wicket win by chasing 113 in 11 overs against South Africa in Lucknow in 2021. 

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