South Africa’s Nadine de Klerk on Thursday broke Indian hearts when her blistering 84 runs off 54 deliveries cancelled out Richa Ghosh’s 94 in the first innings and drove the Proteas to a 3-wicket win against the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side, relegating the Women in Blue to their first defeat in the 2025 edition of the World Cup.
But on the way to victory, there was a bit of drama in the middle as in the 47th over after Kranti Gaud had been smashed for two sixes and a four off the first three deliveries by de Klerk, there was a significant pause in the game due to some issue with keeper Richa Ghosh. The India keeper needed her legs to be stretched as an impatient de Klerk complained to the umpire as the game slowed down. Non striker Ayabonga Khaka then told de Klerk to keep calm as India succeeded in breaking some of South Africa’s rhythm as evidenced by the 3 dots balls Gaud bowled after the match restarted.
But ultimately it was all for naught as de Klerk smashed double sixes in the 49th over to drag South Africa to victory. She would later open up about the pause in play in the post-match press conference, saying that they felt that India was deliberately slowing the game down.
“Yeah, look, I think we just kind of questioned whether something really happened. We obviously felt like it was quite tactical from India to try and slow the game down. But I think in the end it actually worked out quite well because we also got a bit of a refreshment and it just gave me a few seconds to restart my head and my game plans as well. I think in the end it worked out quite well. But, yeah, we knew it was quite tactical. They really tried to slow the game down, especially with starting the over quite well and then it was all about just slowing things down. But like I said, it worked out quite well for us,” she said.
South Africa will next play against Bangladesh next Monday while India will take on Australia on Sunday.
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