India Women vs South Africa Women: ODI series, 2021 - Statistical Review

The Indian women’s team had to face an embarrassing defeat by 4-1 against South Africa Women in the ODI series. This series was played in Lucknow, and the Indian team was able to win only the second ODI where they chased the target of 158 runs quite comfortably. All the five games of this series were won by the team fielding first. In the fifth ODI, India could manage only 188/9 in the first innings, a total which was chased by the visitors in 48.2 overs. Though the hosts had some impressive individual performances in the series it could not help the team to get a better result.          

Let’s look at important stats and numbers after the end of the five-match ODI series between India women and South Africa women:

Dismal show by India

3 – For the first time in ODIs, the Indian Women’s team lost to South Africa in 3 consecutive matches. Earlier they lost to Proteas in 2 matches on trot back in 2002.

A stellar performance by Lizelle Lee 

288 –  South African opener Lizelle Lee performed brilliantly in this series scoring 288 runs in 4 innings at an average of 144. This includes 1 century and 2 scores of above fifty. Her average of 144 is the highest for any Proteas women in an ODI series with a minimum of 200 runs scored.

Big milestones for Mithali Raj

10125 – During the third ODI of the series, Mithali Raj became just the second player to complete 10000 runs in Women’s cricket across formats. She now has 10125 runs in international cricket and is only behind former English cricketer Charlotte Edwards (10273) in the record tally. 

7098 – In the fourth match of the series, the Indian captain crossed the 7000-run mark in Women’s ODIs, and became the first-ever player to achieve the milestone. She has aggregated 7098 runs in the format at an average of 51.06 including 7 centuries and 55 half-centuries.

Shabnim Ismail’s feat

150 – South African pacer Shabnim Ismail completed 150 wickets in ODIs during the fourth game and became the first South African woman to reach the landmark. Overall, she is the seventh player in the world to achieve the feat.

Unique record for Smriti Mandhana

10 – Smriti Mandhana scored a brilliant half-century in the chase in the second match. With this, she became the first-ever cricketer to hit 10 consecutive fifties in chases including both men’s and women’s ODIs. 

2147 – The prolific batter has so far scored 2147 runs as an opener for India in ODIs. She became the most successful ODI opener for India in Women’s cricket surpassing Jaya Sharma (2039).  

Other records

14 – Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur stitched a 71-run partnership for the fourth wicket in the fifth ODI. This was their fourteenth 50+ partnership in ODIs which is a record for India. The Indian skipper had 13 fifty partnerships in total with Anjum Chopra, a record which has been broken now.  

104 – In the first ODI, Harmanpreet Kaur became the fifth Indian women player to feature in 100 ODI games. She has scored 2532 runs in 104 ODIs with an average of 35.66.    

2150 – South African opener Laura Wolvaardt completed her 2000 ODI runs in the first game of the series, and became the youngest Proteas women player to reach the milestone. She has scored 2150 runs in the format at an average of 43.87 with the help of 2 hundreds and 19 fifties.