Harmanpreet praises Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma: They set the platform for India's win

IND-W vs SA-W: Harmanpreet Kaur lauded Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma and the bowlers after India beat South Africa by 10 wickets in the Women's Test at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

In Short

• India beat South Africa by 10 wickets at the Chepauk
• Sneh Rana won the Player of the Match award
• Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana also made useful contributions

Harmanpreet Kaur heaped praise on Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma after India beat South Africa by 10 wickets in the Only Women’s Test at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. On Day 1 of the red-ball game, Mandhana and Shafali put on 292 runs for the opening wicket to put the home team in a commanding position right from the word go. On the back of Shafali’s 205 and Mandhana’s 149, India put up a huge score of 603 for 6 (declared) on the board.

South Africa gave away a lead of 337 runs in the first innings, but showed a lot of guts in the second. Laura Wolvaardt, Sune Luus and Nadine de Klerk scored 122, 109 and 61 runs respectively to make India work hard. Harmanpreet admitted that the Proteas made life tough for India in the second innings.

“It was not easy. They batted really well. They did not give us an easy win and we had to work hard for it. Credit goes to Smriti and Shafali who set up a platform for us. Everyone in the team, they contributed well with the bat. The way we fielded, it was not easy to field for so many overs,” Harmanpreet said in the post-match presentation ceremony.

‘Hats off to our bowlers’

Harmanpreet also lauded the bowlers for stepping up and guiding India through to victory. Sneh Rana became only the second Indian bowler in Women’s Tests to pick up 10 wickets in a match. Earlier, Rana recorded the second-best figures by an Indian in Women’s Tests after Neetu David.

“Hats off to our bowlers, especially our spinners. They kept bowling and had that belief that they could take those wickets to win us the game. All of them. The way they played the last two Tests, they showed that trust that they can keep bowling and keep creating chances,” Harmanpreet said.

“When we came in the morning, we knew we had just 100 runs in the pocket and that we had to be careful, not giving them easy boundaries. But we also had to keep looking for wickets. We planned really well and stuck to that,” Harmanpreet added.

India are now set to face Laura Wolvaardt’s South Africa in a 3-match T20I series to begin on July 5 at the Chepauk.