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India Women faced another defeat in the second T20I of the five match series against South Africa as Smriti Mandhana and the rest of the batters once again failed to put on a show.

The hosts registered a comfortable eight wicket win at Kingsmead in Durban and now lead the series 2-0.

Shafali Verma and Anushka Sharma fight lone battle

India had a poor start as Smriti Mandhana fell early for 12 and Jemimah Rodrigues followed soon after. The pressure was on right from the powerplay.

Shafali Verma played with intent and scored 57 off 38 balls. She stitched a 53 run stand with Anushka Sharma, who made 28 but struggled to get going at times.

After Shafali’s dismissal, India lost control. The middle and lower order failed to step up as the team collapsed from 99 for 2 to 147 all out, losing wickets at regular intervals.

South Africa produced a clinical bowling performance with Tumi Sekhukhune and Chloe Tryon picking up three wickets each.

They mixed their pace well and kept things tight, never allowing India to accelerate. Nadine de Klerk and Nonkululeko Mlaba also chipped in with key contributions.

Laura Wolvaardt and Sune Luus dominate chase

Chasing 148, South Africa made it look easy with a commanding 106 run opening stand between Laura Wolvaardt and Sune Luus.

Wolvaardt scored a fluent 54 off 34 balls while Luus added a composed 57 off 46 balls. Both batters controlled the chase and took the game away from India early.

They were eventually dismissed by Shreyanka Patil, but the damage was already done. Tazmin Brits and Annerie Dercksen finished the chase in 17.1 overs.

India face growing concerns ahead of T20 World Cup

For India, Shreyanka Patil was the only bowler to pick wickets while the rest struggled to make an impact.

Smriti Mandhana’s continued poor form remains a big concern. With the T20 World Cup approaching, India will need to quickly fix their batting issues and find consistency to bounce back in the series.

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