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Women’s U-19 T20 World Cup: Shweta Sehrawat (92*) shines as India beat South Africa
The opener led the batting and skipper Shafali Verma shone with bat and ball as India won by 7 wickets in Benoni
Openers Shweta Sehrawat hit an unbeaten 57-ball 92 and skipper Shafali Verma a 16-ball 45 as India began their campaign in the ICC Women’s Under-19 T20 World Cup with a seven-wicket victory over hosts South Africa at Benoni on Saturday.
South Africa did a decent job to reach 166/5 batting first, having lost the recent T20 series 0-4 to India. Needing 167 to win the opening game, India chased down the target, reaching 170 losing just three wickets with 21 balls to spare.
Playing the sheet anchor, Shweta, who hit 20 fours, dominated the run chase, although she would be disappointed a bit to miss out on a deserving century. India’s chase was set up by Shweta and Shafali, who hammered the South Africa bowlers inside the first seven overs.
Using her international experience with the senior India team and power-hitting abilities, it was Shafali who got things going. She took on the South Africa bowlers and the duo raised 77 runs in 7.1 overs. Shafali hit nine fours and one six before she was caught by Seshnie Naidu off Miane Smit’s bowling.
Shweta, the vice-captain, took over from there. She kept the scoreboard ticking and played brilliant shots with Gongadi Trisha (15) at the other end. Though Trisha fell early, surged ahead. Shweta was joined by Soumya Tiwari and they added 59 runs. Soumya was out on 10, but had done the hard work to ensure victory.
India bowlers were caught by surprise as openers Elandri Janse van Rensburg and top-scorer Simone Lourens (61-44b, 9x4, 1x6) clobbered them all around, scoring 56 runs in 4 overs.
Mohammed Shabnam Shakeel’s first over cost 20 runs and the second by Sonam Yadav went for 13. Sonam removed Van Rensburg (13) and Shafali, bowling off-breaks, bowled in form SA skipper Oluhle Siyo for a first-ball duck. Simone was run out in the 17th over off a Trisha throw. Madison Landsman (32-17b) helped SA reach a challenging total. Shafali took two wickets while Parshavi Chopra was the most impressive, taking 1/15.
India next play UAE at Benoni on Monday.
Brief scores: South Africa 166/5 (Simone 61, Shafali 2/31); India 170/3 in 16.3 overs (Shweta 92*, Shafali 45). India won by 7 wickets.
