India (W) vs SA Women, 1st Match at East London, SA Tri-Series, Jan 19 2023 - Match Result

Thank you for patiently following our ball-by-ball coverage, especially the fans in India who had to stay awake (it's 1.50am IST now) and support their team. That's all from us today. Get a good night's sleep, everyone. This is Srinidhi Ramanujam, signing off on behalf of S Sudarshanan and Sudeep Poojar. Cheers

Six of India's players were unwell today, including their captain Harmanpreet Kaur, and yet, the visitors led by Smriti Mandhana, showed enough stomach to put a competitive total and defend it in the series opener. Meanwhile, South Africa will be looking at their approach and hoping to correct it before their home World Cup, which begins next month.

Amanjot, the Player of the Match:I was very happy to contribute to the team's win. Never thought I would be playing like this, it was a good opportunity and glad that I grabbed the opportunity. Was just hoping to get some runs. She (Deepti) calmed my nerves, it's my debut, and she guided me well. Told me to just take singles and bat deep. That really helped.

Mandhana: We spoke before the match that we need to show our character and the team did that. Partnership between Amanjot and Deepti showed that. Our bowlers then did their job on this pitch. With the start we got, we thought of getting to 120-130, but we got about 15 runs more, credit to them. Batters told us that it's turning, it's a dry surface and our spinners believed they could do the job. Whatever they did, it was amazing to watch.

Luus: We pulled it back nicely but then lost our way in the death overs. Deepti played a nice innings. Today's game was a real challenge for us. It felt like playing India at home. We just wanted two batters to stay till the end and take the team home which didn't happen. Long way to go.

Time for presentation.

9.58pmA convincing win for India here. South Africa kept losing wickets regularly in the chase once Kapp-Luus' partnership was broken and couldn't have that one big stand to get closer to the target. Luus struck 29 and Tryon tried to cut down the asking rate by notching up a 20-ball 26 but there was hardly any support from the other end as India's spinners kept troubling the hosts. Deepti led the bowling attack with three wickets while Vaidya picked up two, with Gayakwad, Rana and Radha chipping in with a wicket each. On a slow surface, after been asked to bat, India were led by the debutant Amanjot (41*) and Deepti's (33) whose 76-run stand helped them to 147 after early jitters. And it proved enough.

Gayakwad in