Lucknow: Indian Women’s Cricket Team will be playing against South Africa Women’s Team in the fifth and final one-day International on Wednesday, i.e March 17, 2021.

With the series already out of their grasp, the Indian Team dwindled to put up a good match against the Africans. Barring the convincingly nine-wicket win in the second match, the Indian women have barely fired in unison while the South Africans, who have already clinched the series 3-1, have excelled as a team. They now would be playing only for the sake of pride of their country. One can’t call it entirely their fault as these were their first time on the field after an year long pandemic and lack of practice. On the other hand South Africa had recently brushed up their skills with a victory over the Pakistan team at home.

The Indian team also missed the talent of Shafali Verma at the top of the order of Shikha Pandey in the bowling department. Indian spinners, save Rajeshwari Gayakwad (5 wickets from 4 matches), were a big let-down on the slow tracks which contributed as a major reason in India’s series loss when the South Africans chased down 249 and 267 in the third and fourth matches. Senior leg-spinner Poonam Yadav also didn’t get a single batter out in the four matches she has played so far.

Indian Women’s Cricket Team Captain Mithali Raj and her deputy Harmapreet Kaur were the two consistent batters while star opener Smriti Mandhana rose only in the second match. Top-order batter Punam Raut has been in sensational form with scores of 10, 62 not out, 77 and 104 not out in the four games.

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