A battling half-century by Chloe Tryon (50, 80b, 7x4) carried South Africa to a thrilling two-wicket win over India in the first of the three women's One-Day Internationals at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here Monday.
Taking first strike, India collapsed to 114 in 38.5 overs and South Africa recovered from 31/5 to score 118/8 in 41.1 overs.
The tottering Indian innings was propped up by a 63-run fifth-wicket partnership between Harmanpreet Kaur (31, 51b, 3x4) and Jhulan Goswami (33, 81b, 2x4) as the South African bowlers held the upper hand from the start.
A combination of pace and spin led to the Indian downfall as seamer Marizanne Kapp and leg-spinner Dane van Niekerk, both in top five of ICC rankings, took four wickets apiece as the home side lost their last six wickets for just 21 runs in 9.3 overs.
The South African chase all but resembled that of their rivals as the visitors were reduced to 31/5 in the 13th over before van Niekerk (14) and Tryon came to the rescue with a 37-run stand for the sixth wicket.
Goswami broke the stubborn partnership by trapping van Niekerk and India were back in the hunt though Tryon remained a threat.
Seamer Subhalakshmi Sharma provided another twist when she had Sunette Loubser caught behind as South Africa slipped to 97/7. However, with Tryon in charge, the visitors inched their way to the target.
With just two runs short of target, Tryon was run out by Harmanpreet Kaur and South Africa were 113/8, but by then, the damage had been done as the visitors stumbled across the finish line to go 1-0 up in the series which is part of the ICC World Championship.
Brief scores:
India 114 all out in 38.5 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 31, Jhulan Goswami 33; Marizanne Kapp 4/21, Dane van Niekerk 4/9) lost to South Africa 118/8 in 41.1 overs (Chloe Tryon 50, Jhulan Goswami 3/22, Harmanpreet Kaur 2/28, Subhalakshmi Sharma 2/17).
