Manchester, June 21 (IANS) South Africa’s pace spearheads Marizanne Kapp and Shabnim Ismail picked two wickets apiece to peg India back after a blazing start, as the Proteas restricted Harmanpreet Kaur-led side to 158/7 in their Group A clash of 2206 Women’s T20 World Cup at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Electing to bat first, India raced to 59/2 in the powerplay, but the middle overs proved far trickier on a dry surface where the ball often held up, as they amassed 57/3 in overs 7-15. Though India added 42 runs in the final five overs, South Africa’s disciplined bowlers struck regularly to ensure no batter crossed fifty, including giving away only six extras.

This was only the second time after 2016 that India have crossed 150 in a T20 World Cup game without an individual half‑century, thus leaving the contest delicately poised. India’s innings began with Shafali Verma crisply clipping Marizanne Kapp off her pads for four, before driving Shabnim Ismail through cover for another boundary. Smriti Mandhana joined in by driving Shabnim on the up, before pulling her to collect consecutive boundaries.

After flicking Marizanne Kapp wide of mid‑on for four, Smriti went for a very ambitious scoop, which became fatal as she missed the length completely and was left to see her stumps rattled.

Chloe Tryon got a punishing introduction as Shafali danced down to thrash her through cover, sweep powerfully, before launching a 74‑metre six over long‑off in a 17-run fourth over. But Shabnim’s hostile bumper snared her glove while trying to leave it late – replays showed the 122.5 kmph bumper took a feather edge and Shafali was out for 31.

Yastika Bhatia played some fine boundaries, before being trapped plumb lbw off Ayabonga Khaka for 15. Jemimah Rodrigues couldn’t last long – she closed her bat face too late and Nadine de Klerk produced a diving caught‑and‑bowled dismissal to remove her for 12.

Harmanpreet Kaur, playing in her landmark 200th T20I game, and Deepti Sharma tried to steady the innings through a 33-run stand, before Shabnim had the former chopping on to her stumps for 24. Though Deepti and Richa Ghosh hit three boundaries in seven balls, the tempo never truly lifted for India.

Deepti, who had been so assured with the sweep, was undone by one from Nonkululeko Mlaba that floated slower and wider, and miscued to short fine leg for 29. With Richa struggling to find rhythm and missing out on hittable balls, Marizanne removed her with a slower ball and top-edge on sweep was caught by short fine leg. Prema Rawat, on debut, and Arundhati Reddy managed a couple of runs before India ended two runs short of 160.

Brief Scores: India 158/7 in 20 overs (Shafali Verma 31, Deepti Sharma 29; Marizanne Kapp 2-27, Shabnim Ismail 2-28) against South Africa

--IANS

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