Mandhana, Poonam set up India win
A half-century from Smriti Mandhana, followed by a three-wicket haul from the legspinner Poonam Yadav helped India Women to a 16-run victory against South Africa Women in Bangalore
ESPNcricinfo staff
30-Nov-2014
India Women 146 for 5 (Mandhana 52, Mithali Raj 40) beat South Africa Women (Van Niekerk 46, Kapp 33, Poonam 3-18) by 16 runs
Scorecard
Scorecard
A half-century from Smriti Mandhana, followed by a three-wicket haul from the legspinner Poonam Yadav helped India Women to a 16-run victory against South Africa Women in Bangalore. India, having been inserted, began brightly as the openers Mithali Raj and Vellaswamy Vanitha raced to 45 in 6.3 overs. South Africa fought back with three quick wickets, but Mandhana counterattacked by striking a 42-ball 52, which featured five fours. Mandhana and Shikha Pandey added 63 for the fourth wicket, as India finished with 146 for 5.
South Africa began the chase steadily, but their lack of acceleration came back to hurt them. They were well-placed at 62 for 1, but two strikes from Poonam in the 12th over pegged South Africa back. The visitors clawed their way back to 118 for 4 through Dane van Niekerk's 46 and Marizanne Kapp's 33, but five wickets in the space of nine deliveries meant that South Africa were restricted to 130 for 9.
Poonam ended with a career-best 3 for 18, while Ekta Bisht collected 2 for 20.
