Jemimah Rodrigues' career-best 123 powers India into final

Jemimah Rodrigues' career-best 123 was instrumental in India's win over South Africa in Colombo that sent them to the tri-series final. Rodrigues' ton helped India post a commanding 337 on the board and despite looking down and out in the run chase for the major part of it, South Africa put up a commendable fight in the final 10 overs before eventually falling short by 23 runs. As a result of this loss, South Africa were eliminated despite having one more game left to play in the series.

Chasing their first win of the series, South Africa received an early jolt when Lara Goodall edged one to the keeper in just the second over. Miane Smit and Tazmin Brits led a recovery but South Africa still made only 40 runs from the opening 10 overs which meant the required rate had shot up. Both Brits and Smit were then sent packing in quick succession and South Africa were forced to rebuild again. Annerie Dercksen then led her side's charge with a fruitful stand for the fourth wicket but South Africa were always in need of a spell where they could accumulate quick runs.

While Dercksen kept fighting, South Africa were in deep trouble at 188/5 which is when Chloe Tryon walked out. Needing 128 from the final ten overs, Tryon and Dercksen pressed on the accelerator with the former smashing a six each in successive overs. Sneh Rana was then picked apart for 19 in an over which brought the equation down to 82 off 36.

While not impossible, the task still needed South Africa to come up with something special. India then delivered two quiet overs that included the wicket of Dercksen for 81 and that dented South Africa big time. Nadine de Clerk and Tryon then hammered 17 runs each off back-to-back overs to cause some slight panic again in the Indian camp which is when bad light forced the players off the field. But they eventually did make their return, only for India to finally seal the deal in their favour.

Earlier in the day, India got off to a poor start, losing three wickets inside the powerplay. Pratika Rawal was back in the pavilion after just eight deliveries into the innings and Harleen Deol inside-edged one onto her stumps in the very next over. Even though Harmanpreet Kaur got off to a bright start, fetching six boundaries, the skipper was sent packing for 28 much to South Africa's delight that reduced India to 50/3 in just 7 overs.

Smriti Mandhana and Rodrigues then pulled off a commendable job to arrest a slide with a solid partnership that saw the opener bring up another half-century in her career. At the other end, Rodrigues made a start similar to Harmanpreet and raced to 28 off just 20 balls at one point and reached her fifty off just 40 balls. But just when it appeared like Mandhana would convert another start into a big one, South Africa struck with the left-hander mistiming one to get caught near the deep midwicket boundary.

Any hopes of respite for South Africa were quickly brushed away as Deepti Sharma and Rodrigues put on a century stand to deflate the opposition. Batting at 5 off 15 at one point, Deepti got going with successive boundaries off Tryon and from thereon, it was just one-way traffic. Both batters went on a boundary-hitting spree to keep South Africa at bay with Rodrigues bringing up her second ton in the process. Deepti almost managed to bring up her own century in the final over, batting on 93 with two balls left before hitting one straight to the fielder. By then, India had enough in the tank to eventually come out on top.

Brief scores: India Women 337/9 in 50 overs (Jemimah Rodrigues 123, Deepti Sharma 93; Masabata Klaas 2/51) beat South Africa Women 314/7 in 50 overs (Annerie Dercksen 81, Chloe Tyron 67; Amanjot Kaur 3/59) by 23 runs