South Africa Women rode on a 93-run partnership between Sune Luus and Marizanne Kapp to reach 236/4 after India Women capitalised on a 143-run stand between Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh to declare their first innings for a record 603/6 on the second day of the one-off Test here on Saturday.
In what is developing into a cat-and-mouse game, off-spinner Sneh Rana struck three vital blows for 61 runs and Deepti Sharma bagged 1-40 as South Africa stitched a couple of good partnerships that helped the visitors come up with a good response to the fall of wickets.
Sune Luus scored a vital 65 and with Kapp holding forth with a score of 69 not out, South Africa showed their determination to make things difficult for the hosts, who are looking to score their third successive Test win at home.
India Women still hold the advantage as they still lead by 367 runs. With the pitch offering a sharper turn, will be hoping to bundle out South Africa as early as possible on the third day and put them under further pressure in the four-day match being played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here.
After India had declared their innings for their highest score, just a few overs before the end of the morning session on Day 2, South Africa reached 29 no loss at lunch. The Indians however, struck the first blow soon after the resumption with Sneh Rana trapping skipper Laura Wolvaardt for 20 with one that turned and stayed low. South Africa lost their first wicket for 33.
Luus and Anneke Bosch (39) raised 63 runs for the second wicket, taking the visitors to 96. Rana made another breakthrough for India as Bosch edged to Deepti Sharma in the slips. Luus completed her half-century in 131 balls, hitting four boundaries and one six. She was joined by Kapp as they took South Africa past 150 runs.
Off-spinner Deepti Sharma broke the partnership when she trapped Luus LBW, ending her 164-ball vigil for 65 with a delivery that spun back into the batter, sneaked past the bat and struck her the back pad. Luus used the DRS, which showed that no bat was involved, and the ball would have hit the middle stump. South Africa were 169/3 in the 60th over.
Rana grabbed her third wicket of the day when she got Delmi Tucker to edge one behind to Richa Ghosh for an 8-ball duck.
Kapp found a willing partner in Nadine de Klerk as they took the score past the 200-run mark. Kapp completed her fifty off 67 balls, hitting seven boundaries and South Africa’s hopes depend on her and her partnership with de Klerk as they have raised 38 runs for the unbeaten fifth wicket partnership.
Earlier in the morning, India had batted superbly in their first innings, with Shafali Verma scoring 203 off 197 balls (4×23, 6×8) and Smriti Mandhana contributing 149 off 163 balls reaching 525/4 at the end of the opening day. Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh, who were batting on 42 and 43 respectively at stumps on Friday, duly completed their half-centuries as the hosts attempted to bat out their opponents.
Harman was the first to complete her fifty on Day 2, reaching the mark from 89 balls (2×4). India reached 550 soon after in the 105th over and soon Richa reached her half-century off just 54 balls, studded with 11 boundaries. They raised 143 runs for the fifth wicket partnership as India surged past 600 runs.
Richa Ghosh was finally out for 86 off 90 balls, studded with 16 boundaries. It was her attacking innings that helped India post a mammoth total.
Brief scores:
India 603/6dec in 115.1 overs (Shafali 205, Mandhana 149, Richa Ghosh 86, Harmanpreet 69, Tucker 2-141) lead South Africa 236/4 in 72 overs (Kapp 69*, Luus 65, Rana 3-61) by 367 runs.
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