South Africa produced their highest successful chase in Women’s T20 World Cup history to keep their campaign alive, defeating India by six wickets in Manchester. Marizanne Kapp starred with a superb all-round performance, first returning figures of 2/27 to help restrict India to 158/7 and then anchoring the chase with an unbeaten 81 — her maiden T20 World Cup half-century — as South Africa reached the target with five balls to spare.
India began aggressively with Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma taking advantage of the Powerplay to race to 59/2. However, South Africa’s new-ball attack struck at crucial moments, removing both openers and halting India’s momentum.
Although contributions came throughout the batting order, India failed to build substantial partnerships and lost wickets at regular intervals. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur, playing her landmark 200th T20I, scored 24, while Deepti Sharma added a valuable 29 off 21 balls late in the innings. Despite the bright start, India’s total of 158 felt slightly below par on a sluggish surface.
India responded well with the ball and briefly gained the upper hand during the Powerplay. After a cautious start, Laura Wolvaardt counterattacked with a four and a six, but India’s spinners kept the pressure on. Shafali Verma conceded just nine runs from her two overs with the new ball, while Shree Charani turned the game on its head with a double-wicket maiden, dismissing Wolvaardt with a return catch before clean bowling Annerie Dercksen on the very next delivery.
Reduced to 25/2 at the end of the Powerplay, South Africa rebuilt through a match-defining 97-run partnership between Kapp and Tazmin Brits, who was making her first appearance of the tournament. While Deepti Sharma and debutant leg-spinner Prema Rawat struggled to contain the scoring in the middle overs, Kapp and Brits gradually shifted the momentum in South Africa’s favour.
Kapp, in particular, was ruthless against her Delhi Capitals teammates. She struck two boundaries off Charani in the 13th over and followed it up with three more against Arundhati Reddy, bringing up a fluent half-century off just 34 balls.
With South Africa needing 37 runs from the final four overs, India found a breakthrough through Shafali Verma, who dismissed Brits to revive hopes of a comeback. However, Kapp remained unfazed, responding with a six before Charani’s final over proved costly despite the wicket of Nadine de Klerk. Charani finished with impressive figures of 3/24, but the damage had been done.
India then turned to their most experienced spinner, Deepti Sharma, in the penultimate over, but Kapp sealed the contest in style, smashing two towering sixes to guide South Africa to a famous victory and their highest-ever chase in Women’s T20 World Cup history.
Brief Scores: India 158/7 in 20 overs (Shafali Verma 31, Deepti Sharma 29; Marizanne Kapp 2/27, Shabnim Ismail 2/28) lost to South Africa 161/4 in 19.1 overs (Marizanne Kapp 81*, Tazmin Brits 40; Shree Charani 3/24, Shafali Verma 1/22) by 6 wickets.
