Johannesburg: India produced a strong bounce-back, registering their first victory in the SA-W vs IND-W T20 2026 series by 14 runs, propelled by Deepti Sharma’s outstanding all-round brilliance, as she delivered a complete performance, scoring an unbeaten 36 and then dismantling the opposition with a brilliant five-wicket haul. In the 4th Women’s T20 in Johannesburg, India avoided a series whitewash on Saturday, 25 April.
World champions India Women have massively underperformed in the ongoing five-match T20I series, losing the first three matches on the trot, while South Africa Women have looked dominant, consistently outplaying the visitors in each of the encounters.
The match began with South Africa won the toss and elected to bowl first. Anushka Sharma and Shafali Verma came in as openers, but India faced an early setback when Shafali was dismissed for 9 off 9 balls. Shortly after, Anushka Sharma also lost her wicket after scoring 27 off 18 balls. India lost two wickets inside the powerplay at 47/2. The momentum shifted when Jemimah Rodrigues played a composed and elegant knock of 43 off 29 balls and built a solid partnership with captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who scored 22 runs off 16 balls. This partnership helped India cross the 100-run mark after the early setbacks. However, just when both looked set to push for a big total, they were dismissed by Kayla Reyneke. After the fall of set batters, India needed a strong comeback in the innings, which came through Deepti Sharma, supported by Richa Ghosh. The duo added a crucial 65-run partnership for the sixth wicket in the slog overs. Deepti finished unbeaten on 36 off 26 balls, while Richa scored 34 off 18 balls, helping India post a competitive total of 185/5 in 20 overs.
South Africa started their chase positively, although their captain Laura Wolvaardt was bowled early by Kranti Gaud for 18 off 14 balls. However, Sune Luus (40 off 24 balls) and Tazmin Brits (30 off 23 balls) shifted the momentum and kept the chase alive with a strong required run rate. The breakthrough came once again from Deepti Sharma, who dismissed Sune Luus and broke the dangerous partnership. In the second innings, Deepti picked up crucial wickets at key moments with brilliant bowling figures of 5/19 in 4 overs, maintaining an economy rate of 4.75. She completely turned the match in India’s favor by dismissing Anneke Bosch (9 off 7), Kayla Reyneke (21 off 19), and Ayabonga Khaka (1 off 3 balls). With that, Shafali Verma took 1 wicket, Renuka Singh took 1, and Kashvee Gautam also claimed 1 wicket, with support from the rest of the bowling attack. Meanwhile, the South African batters tried to score but failed at the end. South Africa ended up at 171/9 after 20 overs. Though India had a few dropped chances and missed opportunities. Deepti Sharma was deservedly named Player of the Match. They will play their last match tomorrow (Monday) at the Willowmoore Park Cricket Stadium, Benoni, at 5:30 PM.
