India Women vs South Africa Women Highlights, 1st T20I: South Africa beat India by 6 wickets

Arundhati Reddy to Laura Wolvaardt, FOUR! Poor delivery and gets punished again! In search of swing, Reddy serves another full toss, on the pads. Laura Wolvaardt flicks it away with excellent timing in front of square on the leg side for another boundary.

Arundhati Reddy to Laura Wolvaardt, Fuller and on middle, angling in again, Laura Wolvaardt misses her flick and the ball brushes her pads before going into the gloves of the keeper. 

Arundhati Reddy to Laura Wolvaardt, FOUR! Put away! A full toss, shaping down the leg side. Laura Wolvaardt does not miss out and glances it away past short fine for a boundary.

Shreyanka Patil to Laura Wolvaardt, Flatter, full and on leg, Laura Wolvaardt tucks it through mid-wicket for one. South Africa Women are 53/1 at the end of the Powerplay!

Shreyanka Patil to Laura Wolvaardt, Shorter in length and on middle and leg, Laura Wolvaardt heaves it off the inner half of the bat towards square leg. 

Shreyanka Patil to Laura Wolvaardt, Tossed up, full and on off, turns in, Laura Wolvaardt bunts it out on the pitch.

Shreyanka Patil to Tazmin Brits, Risky single! Flighted, full and on middle, Tazmin Brits uses her feet and drills it to mid off and sets off for the run. Smriti Mandhana picks it up but misses her shy at the bowler's end. A direct hit and Brits was a goner.

Shreyanka Patil to Tazmin Brits, Pushed through quicker, skids through and keeps low. Tazmin Brits gets her bat in time to keep it out.

Shreyanka Patil to Tazmin Brits, FOUR! Gets it away! Floated, shortish and turning down the leg side. Tazmin Brits goes down for the swipe but gets a bit of a top edge. It goes past the keeper and to the fine leg fence for a boundary. 50 up for South Africa Women.

Kashvee Gautam to Tazmin Brits, Very full, sliding into the legs, Tazmin Brits flicks it behind square leg for another single. 11 runs off Gautam's first over.

Kashvee Gautam to Laura Wolvaardt, Slower one, ball short and outside off, smacked away to the fielder at deep point for another single.

Kashvee Gautam to Tazmin Brits, Full and straight, shapes back in a bit, Brits clears the front leg but gets the heave off the inside half of the blade and down to long on for one.

Kashvee Gautam to Laura Wolvaardt, A bit straighter again, Wolvaardt flicks it away through the leg side and picks up a single.

Kashvee Gautam to Laura Wolvaardt, WIDE! Well done again by Ghosh. Good length on leg, drifts down and Wolvaardt fails to swing it away. Ghosh makes a sharp take high to her left.

Kashvee Gautam to Laura Wolvaardt, FOUR! Crisply struck. Short of a length on off, sits up nicely for the batter. Wolvaardt waits well and plays a whippy pull through mid-wicket as the ball rockets to the fence.

Kashvee Gautam to Laura Wolvaardt, WIDE! Fuller in length, pushed into the pads but the ball slides down the leg side for a wide.

Kashvee Gautam to Tazmin Brits, The debutant begins with a good-length delivery on the stumps, Brits clips it away through mid-wicket and picks up a single.

Deepti Sharma to Laura Wolvaardt, FOUR! Oh, that's come out all wrong for Sharma and Laura Wolvaardt dispatches it with ease. A juicy full toss on leg stump, Wolvaardt sits down and swats the slog-sweep flat and behind square leg for a third boundary in the over. 12 off it.

Deepti Sharma to Laura Wolvaardt, FOUR! Well struck. Darted in again, at the stumps, Wolvaardt advances, converts it into a low full toss and pummels it straight down the ground for a boundary. No chance for the long on fielder running to her left.

Deepti Sharma to Laura Wolvaardt, Nagging length on middle, darts into the batter, Wolvaardt plays it back to the bowler.

Deepti Sharma to Laura Wolvaardt, Fired in again, on off, Wolvaardt comes forward and smacks the drive but straight to the cover fielder.

Deepti Sharma to Laura Wolvaardt, Nicely bowled. Deepti flattens it up, bowling it quicker on off, and the ball skids through. Wolvaardt gets pressed back as she jams it out on the off side.

Deepti Sharma to Laura Wolvaardt, FOUR! Down the track and over the infield. Floated up, on a length and around off. Wolvaardt skips down the track and heaves it up and over mid off for a boundary.

A first bowling change for India as Deepti Sharma comes in to replace Shreyanka Patil.

Renuka Singh Thakur to Tazmin Brits, That's brilliant fielding, saved four runs there, did Smriti Mandhana. Full and straight, Brits waits back, clears the front leg and drills it back past the non-striker but Smriti dives to her left at mid on and makes the save.

Renuka Singh Thakur to Tazmin Brits, Back of a length and outside off, slants back in. Tazmin Brits goes deep in the crease to punch it away but finds the fielder at cover.

Renuka Singh Thakur to Tazmin Brits, Full ball, shapes back in towards middle. Brits takes the front leg out and jams it towards mid off.

Renuka Singh Thakur to Laura Wolvaardt, Full and outside off, driven firmly and square through the off side for a single.

Renuka Singh Thakur to Laura Wolvaardt, Renuka corrects the line, bowling it on a length and on off stump. Wolvaardt punches it straight to extra cover.

Renuka Singh Thakur to Laura Wolvaardt, FOUR! Too straight from Thakur and she pays the price. Full and angled down leg, flicked away to the right of short fine leg, where the fielder dives and fails to stop the ball. It races away to the fence behind.

Shreyanka Patil to Laura Wolvaardt, Good cricket all around. Flatter one on the pads, tucked away to the left of short fine leg for a quick single. Sree Charani, the fielder, picks it up and scores a direct hit at the keeper's end but Brits is in.

Shreyanka Patil to Laura Wolvaardt, Excellent running. Full on the pads, wristed away to the left of the fielder at deep backward square leg and Wolvaardt comes back for the second run with ease.

Shreyanka Patil to Tazmin Brits, Use of the feet straightaway from Tazmin. Patil sees her coming and jams a full ball in, but Brits works it wide of mid on to pinch a single.

Tazmin Brits walks out to bat at number 3. There is a slight hold up in the play, not quite sure why. But, after a couple of minutes, we are good to go again.

Shreyanka Patil to Sune Luus, OUT! TIMBER! What a comeback delivery from Patil. Shreyanka Patil floats the ball up fuller on off and middle, bowls it a bit quicker as well. Sune Luus just leans on to block it down the line but doesn't get to the pitch of the ball. The ball just straightens and moves past the outside edge to castle into the off stump. South Africa Women are 15/1, chasing 158 for the win.

Shreyanka Patil to Sune Luus, FOUR! Hammered away to the fence this time. Marginally short around off, Sune Luus rocks back and slams the ball through the gap between point and cover for another boundary.

Shreyanka Patil to Sune Luus, FOUR! Sune Luus goes after the width and gets it away. Floated up, full and wide outside off, Luus goes hard at it and slices it away through backward point for a boundary.

Shreyanka Patil, the off-spinner, to start from the other end.

Renuka Singh Thakur to Sune Luus, Full again, on the pads, whipped away through square leg for a single. 7 runs off the first over of the chase.

Renuka Singh Thakur to Sune Luus, WIDE! Well taken by Richa Ghosh behind the stumps. Too full and angled well down the leg side, Luus fails to sweep it away.

Renuka Singh Thakur to Sune Luus, FOUR! Luus is off the mark with a boundary. Good-length delivery around off, Luus shuffles down the pitch a bit and forces the heave to the right of the mid on fielder for a boundary.

Renuka Singh Thakur to Sune Luus, Oh, that's well bowled. A slower yorker, shapes back in late and dips as well. Luus looks to drive but has to adjust and smothers it down on the deck.

Renuka Singh Thakur to Sune Luus, Pitched up fuller, darting back in towards the stumps. Sune Luus shows the full face of the blade and defends it to mid on.

Renuka Singh Thakur to Laura Wolvaardt, Wolvaardt and South Africa Women are off the mark in this run chase. Back of a length again, on off, angled in, Wolvaardt tucks it away towards mid-wicket and picks up a single.

Renuka Singh Thakur to Laura Wolvaardt, No swing there, plenty of width on offer but Laura Wolvaardt fails to put it away. Back of a length and wide outside off, Wolvaardt slaps the ball fiercely but finds Jemimah Rodrigues at point.

We are back! The umpires and the Indian players have taken their places on the field as well. It will be the skipper, Laura Wolvaardt, to open the innings for South Africa Women alongside Sune Luus. Renuka Singh Thakur will get proceedings underway with the ball. Let's play...

... THE RUN CHASE ...

Bowlers pull it back in style - South Africa Women will be quite pleased with their bowling effort. It wasn’t the easiest of starts, made tougher by Sune Luus putting down Shafali Verma early on, but they bounced back well with Ayabonga Khaka and Tumi Sekhukhune pulling things back towards the end of the Powerplay. The spinners then took control through the middle overs, drying up the runs and building pressure by not offering anything loose, forcing the batters into taking risks. The death bowling was exceptional, conceding just 33 runs in the final five overs while also picking up four wickets, swinging the momentum firmly in their favour. Khaka was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/16. With that finish, their batters will feel confident about chasing this down. Stay tuned for the run chase.

From fireworks to fortitude - A bright start laid the foundation for India Women, with Shafali Verma taking the aggressive route as they raced to 46 in quick time. However, the momentum shifted just as quickly, with both openers falling in successive overs to peg them back. Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues found boundaries hard to come by initially, but once they settled in, they rotated strike smartly and stitched together a solid 71-run stand. Just when things looked steady, another couple of quick wickets dented the progress, but Kaur held firm till the end, scoring 47* off 33 to guide India past the 150-run mark, but they just did not get the finish they wanted.

A tale of ups and downs - A batting effort that ebbed and flowed, but India Women have still managed to post a competitive total on the board. South Africa Women might have taken this at the start, but with the pitch playing a touch slow, they’ll need to pace their chase smartly.