Harmanpreet Kaur scored a century against South Africa as India won a closely-fought ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup warm-up match by two runs in Christchurch on Sunday.
In a match that started in the early hours in India, at 3.30 am IST instead of 1.30 am IST as originally mentioned by the match-center, it was reported originally that Mithali Raj and Co lost by four wickets in a match that went down to the wire. But later, the official scorecard on the ICC website was corrected to say India won the match by two runs at Rangiora Oval.
Harmanpreet Kaur’s century was the highlight for India while batting, but there was some worrying news as well. Smriti Mandhana had to retire hurt while batting because of a blow to the head, as per the International Cricket Council.
In South Africa’s chase, Laura Wolvaardt and captain Sune Luus scored half centuries while Rajeshwari Gayakwad was the pick of the bowlers for India with four wickets. The left-arm spinner picked up two wickets in the final over, including that of the SA captain Luus.
The CSA account updated the result after originally mentioning SA won the match and confirmed that India prevailed in the end. There were no updates on the BCCI social media channels, so a confirmation on final scores is awaited. But as per ICC’s changed scorecard, Kaur made 114 off 119 balls.
Update: Here’s how the scorecards were corrected later on, with India still winning by 2 runs. Harmanpreet Kaur score 104.
The ICC report was originally published with South Africa’s win but was later updated.
India players Yastika Bhatia and Sneh Rana, who both featured in the match, had earlier posted final confirmations from their handles on Twitter.
Earlier, Star opener Smriti Mandhana suffered an injury scare ahead of the women’s ODI World Cup after being hit on the head, the ICC reported. The left-handed batter retired hurt after copping a blow in the early stages of the game in Rangiora.
According to a report on the ICC website, it was a bouncer from South African fast bowler Shabnim Ismail which hit her, leaving Mandhana visibly shaken. The 25-year-old Mandhana was assessed by the team doctor after the incident and was initially deemed fit to continue, only to retire hurt an over and a half later following another consultation. According to the medical staff, she didn’t feel any initial concussion symptoms but left the ground as a precautionary measure. She did not take the field at the start of South Africa’s innings.
Mandhana, who played only the last two ODIs against New Zealand after being in extended quarantine, is a vital cog in India’s ODI side and is expected to play a key role in the World Cup which gets underway on Friday.
In the other two warm-up matches, Pakistan defeated New Zealand while Australia cruised past West Indies. The results for those matches were posted by the teams’ official Twitter accounts as mentioned below.
This report will be updated as needed if and when BCCI’s official handle confirms the result.
The scorecard for the India-South Africa match is available here.
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