Smriti Mandhana’s 135 to Jhulan Goswami’s 200 wickets, Mithali Raj-led India smash records in 2nd ODI

Mithali Raj & Co dominated South Africa in the second ODI, outclassing them in every department of the game

By: Arun Rawal |
February 8, 2018 12:41 pm

Dane Van Niekerk’s team is having a hard time against Mithali Raj’s brigade at home. They lost the second ODI by a huge margin of 178 runs and with that, lost the series as India took an unassailable lead in the three-match ODI series. A number of records were broken in the ODI but sadly there was no live telecast of the match yet again despite BCCI facing criticism after the first ODI of the series. However, Cricket South Africa posted a video containing match footage and post-match interviews on their Youtube channel.

Smriti Mandhana scored 135 runs, her career-best individual score. Mandhana bettered her record on South African soil, she has the highest individual score on South African soil for an Indian batswoman. She surpassed her own record which she created in the previous ODI by scoring 84 runs. Her score is now the fourth-highest individual score by an Indian batswoman in the history of ODI cricket.

Mandhana was on a rampage in the second ODI. She took on Ayabonga Khaka and scored 22 runs off her over, including four boundaries and one six. The 43rd over from Khaka cost her team a record 28 runs. Harmanpreet Kaur scored a single off the first ball and Khaka bowled a wide that was out of wicketkeeper Trisha Chetty’s reach.

#CSAnews Mandhana and Yadav seal ODI series for India women https://t.co/534hAvnP9o #ProteasWomen #SAvIND pic.twitter.com/3oMdl15XEy

— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) February 7, 2018

Jhulan Goswami took her 200th wicket and became the first woman to do so in ODI cricket. She is currently the leading wicket-taker in ODIs and has a healthy lead over other bowlers.

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India scored 302 for 3 in 50 overs. This is their second-highest score in ODIs overall and highest against South Africa on any pitch — away or home. Apart from Mandhana’s century, Kaur and Veda Krishnamurthy scored half-centuries to take the score past 300. Kaur also surpassed former Indian cricketer Jaya Sharma and became India’s all-time third-highest run-scorer in ODI cricket.

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It all went downhill for South Africa as they came out to chase a mammoth total. Opener Lizelle Lee kept running out of partners. Lee scored 59 percent of her team’s runs. While the whole team was bundled out for 124 in the 32nd over, Lee scored 73 runs from 75 balls, including 7 fours and 3 sixes.

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Only Marizanne Kapp managed to register scores in double digits as South African batting lineup tumbled under the pressure of chasing down 303. Poonam Yadav took four wickets and helped her team mop up the tail quickly and register a record win by a huge margin of runs against South Africa.