Christchurch: Despite Harmanpreet Kaur's heroics and spinners controlling the game in the middle, South Africa cruised through the contest and defeated India by three wickets at Hagley Oval here on Sunday. With this loss, India's campaign ends at the World Cup.
India's loss meant West Indies joined Australia, South Africa and England in the semifinals with Mithali Raj's side finishing fifth. In what was a nerve-wracking contest that went until the last over, Deepti Sharma overstepped and was called no-ball in the last over when South Africa needed 3 runs from 2 balls. du Preez had lost his wicket but went back to face Sharma for a free-hit with Proteas needing 2 from 2 delivers. It was all curtains for India after that.
As it panned out, Australia, South Africa, England and West Indies reached the last four stage.
In possibly her last match for India, skipper Mithali Raj was left devastated along with her teammates.
India were not consistent enough to make the semifinals and ended fifth in the league stage with three wins and four losses.
South Africa were cruising in their run chase with the in-form Laura Wolvaardt (80 off 79) and Lara Goodall (49 off 69) sharing 125 runs for the second wicket.
India rely heavily on veteran pacer Jhulan Goswami for early breakthroughs and her absence due to a side strain made the task easier for the South Africans.
Harmanpreet Kaur, who made 48 with the bat, got rid of opener Lizelle Lee (6) with a brilliant direct hit before Wolvaardt and Goodall got together and took the game away from the opposition.
Wolvaardt continued her sensational run of form with her fifth fifty-plus score in seven innings. It took a double strike from Harmanpreet to bring India back in the game as she found the stumps of Wolvaardt and trapped Sune Luus (22) with her probing off-spin.
The Indian fielding once again was sloppy and late evening dew made the job tougher for them. However, individual brilliance of Harmanpreet helped India take the game deep with South Africa needing 45 off the last 30 balls.
Du Preez, who was dropped by Smriti in the 45th over, and Chloe Tyron (17) were up for the challenge and took their team on the cusp of victory. Tyron got three boundaries in the 47th over bowled by Gayakwad to reduce the equation to 20 off 18 balls.
Earlier, India chose to put runs on the board in the high-pressure game while their opponents took the field in their last league game having already qualified for the semifinals.
Shafali (53 off 46) and Smriti (71 off 84) shared a 91-run stand off 90 balls for the opening wicket to provide the start India were looking for.
Shafali scored bulk of the runs in the partnership with Smriti and looked at her fluent best en route her maiden World Cup fifty. She put South Africa's best bowler, pacer Shabnim Ismail under the pump by attacking her from the word go.
Shafali collected three boundaries off Shabnim's second over including an audacious walk across the off-stump to whip the South African bowler over short-fine leg.
The 18-year-old completed her first fifty of the competition with a boundary over mid-on off pacer Masabata Klaas.
With the way the openers were going about their business, India looked on course for 300 for the second time in the tournament. However, they lost Shafali against the run of play before number three batter Yastika Bhatia got out in a bizarre fashion.
There was a miscommunication over a quick single on the leg side between Shafali and Smirti while Yastika played a sweep shot on to her stumps off spinner Chloe Tryon, leaving India at 96 for two from 91 for no loss.
Mithali and Smriti then got together to regain the lost momentum.
It was a typical Mithali knock as she changed gears after taking her time early on. She released the pressure with a bunch of cut shots off spinners before hitting a sublime cover driver off pacer Marizanne Kapp.
With Mithali going strong and Harmanpreet joining her in the middle, India found their rhythm back to reach 223 for three in 40 overs.
However, only 51 runs were scored off the last 60 balls for the loss of four wickets as India failed to get the final flourish.
Interestingly, Mithali scored her fifty in a crucial game at the same ground where she scored her maiden World Cup half-century 22 years ago.
Brief Scores:
India Women: 274 for 7 in 50 overs (Smriti Mandhana 71, Mithali Raj 68, Shafali Verma 53; Masabata Klaas 2/38).
South Africa Women: 275 for 7 in 50 overs (Laura Wolvaardt 80, Mignon du Preez 52; Harmanpreet Kaur 2/42).
