The Indian women will take on the West Indies women in the third match of the ongoing Women’s Tri-Series in South Africa, at the Buffalo Park in East London tonight.
Advertisement
Despite the absence of skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, medium pacers Shikha Panday and Renuka Singh, India were up for the task against the hosts last Thursday as they won the series opener comfortably in the end by 27 runs.
It turned out to be a night to remember for the Punjab allrounder Amanjot Kaur, as she became only the third India women’s player to win the ‘Player of the Match’ trophy on T20I debut, for her knock of 41* off 30 deliveries coming in at no.7 in the batting order.
As for the West Indies, their struggles with the bat came to haunt them yet again during their opening match of the series against the hosts on Saturday, as they were restricted to mere 97/8 in their 20 Overs while chasing the target of 142 runs.
Skipper Hayley Matthews (23 off 35) was the highest scorer for the Windies, with the middle order yet again crumbling like a deck of cards.
No points for guessing that India will certainly start as favourites to win tonight’s contest, and it remains to be seen whether or not Harmanpreet and other key players make it to the playing XI or not.
Buffalo Park East London pitch report
During the first two matches of the series at the Buffalo Park, the pitch did seem to be a bit two-paced which made it challenging for the batters to play their strokes freely.
The spinners are yet again likely to dominate the proceedings in both the innings, and are expected to generate decent turn off the surface.
“Batters told us that it’s turning, it’s a dry surface and out spinners believed they could do the job,” remarked India’s stand-in skipper Smriti Mandhana after her spinners picked up eight of the nine South African wickets during the first match.
Expect score in the vicinity of 150-run mark to be enough to challenge the opposition come tonight.
