Manchester, June 21 (IANS) Marizanne Kapp produced one of the greatest knocks in Women’s T20 World Cup history by smashing an unbeaten 81 off 45 balls and carry South Africa to a six‑wicket win over India in a Group A thriller that went down to the final over at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Chasing 159 in a must-win game in front of 11,712 fans, South Africa’s innings looked adrift after crawling to just 25 in the powerplay. But Marizanne’s brilliance turned the contest on its head. She unleashed a full range of strokes, refusing to let India’s bowlers settle, and kept the chase alive even as wickets fell around her.

In her knock laced with seven boundaries and four sixes, Marizanne shared a crucial 97-run partnership with Tazmin Brits, who hit 40. Once Chloe Tryon hit the winning runs, Marizanne, who was given reprieves twice by Radha Yadav, dropped to her haunches in relief before embracing her as South Africa kept their campaign alive in the group of death by handing India their first loss of the competition.

South Africa’s chase began cautiously against Shafali Verma’s off‑spin. Though India kept things tight, Laura Wolvaardt cracked a drive past point off Nandni Sharma for four, before she pulled Arundhati Reddy for six and thumped Shafali for another boundary.

But Sree Charani’s left‑arm spin helped India claw back – she lured Laura into a lofted drive and took a return catch. After a dot ball, Charani took out Annerie Dercksen, who swiped across the line to be bowled for a duck, as the spinner’s double‑wicket maiden over left South Africa reeling at 25/2.

Tazmin tried to rebuild with Marizanne and the former stepped up by reverse‑sweeping Deepti Sharma for four. Marizanne struggled initially, mistiming drives and sweeps, but gradually found her rhythm. Debutant Prema Rawat’s leg‑spin was taken on by Marizanne – a carve over cover for four was followed by top-edge on a sweep palmed over by Nandni for six.

The partnership grew in confidence - Nandni was scooped over fine leg for four by Marizanne, while Deepti was lofted over long‑on by Brits, who also survived an lbw review thanks to an under‑edge.

After Marizanne was put down by substitute fielder Radha Yadav at long-on off Charani’s bowling, she showed her full flow – lofting and sweeping her for boundaries, before sweeping Arundhati on consecutive deliveries to bring up her fifty in 34 balls and crunching a full toss from Deepti through cover for four.

Though Tazmin pulled straight to deep square leg off Shafali, Marizanne dispatched her down the ground for four and earned a reprieve again from Radha shelling a sitter at long-on. Though Charani castled Nadine de Klerk after being hammered over extra cover for four, Chloe Tryon cutting through cover for four meant South Africa inched closer to complete the chase.

Marizanne wowed everyone by slog-sweeping Deepti for six, before whipping over mid-wicket for another maximum. Chloe then finished off the chase in style by edging Nandni through the slip cordon to get a sensational win for South Africa.

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 not out, Tazmin Brits 40; Sree Charani 3-24, Shafali Verma 1-22) by six wickets

--IANS

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