India lost the won game, Marizanne Cap led South Africa to victory; close contest

In the 18th match of the Women’s World Cup 2026, South Africa defeated India by 6 wickets. Batting first, India had scored 158 runs, no batsman could score a half-century. South Africa had a slow start while chasing the target, after which Sri Charani made the match for India by taking 2 wickets in the last over of the powerplay. But then the 97-run partnership between Marijane Kapp and Tajmin Brits took the match away from India. However, this partnership would not have been so big if the Indian fielders had not dropped easy catches. Although India made a comeback with the break of this pair, but the catch drop by Radha Yadav again gave away the match which was Marijana’s. He played the match-winning innings by scoring 81 runs in 45 balls. This is Team India’s first defeat in this World Cup.

Chasing the target of 159 runs, South Africa’s openers Laura Wolvaardt and Tajmin Britts had a slow start. Shri Charani took the first wicket for India, he dismissed captain Wolvaardt (20) on the second ball of the last over of the powerplay. Charani also took the second wicket in the same over, he bowled Annery Derksen (0).

Marijane Kapp, who came at number four, along with Tajmin Brits made a partnership of 97 runs for the third wicket. This pair was broken by Shefali Verma in the 17th over, she got Brits caught out. Brits scored 40 runs in 36 balls with the help of 1 six and 2 fours. India made a comeback in the match with this wicket.

Marijana was given 2 lives, played the match winning innings

Shefali Verma dismissed Brits on the first ball of the 17th over, when South Africa needed 37 runs in 23 balls to win. In the same over, Marizanne Cap got life for the second time, if Radha Yadav had taken that easy catch, India could have strengthened its hold.

Marijane played an unbeaten inning of 81 runs with 4 sixes and 7 fours in 45 balls, this is her biggest inning in T20 International. This is South Africa’s second consecutive win and India’s first defeat in this World Cup.

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Shri Charani took 3 wickets

Shri Charani bowled brilliantly, he took 2 wickets in a single over of the powerplay and also took the important wicket of Nadine de Klerk in the last overs. Apart from her, only Shefali Verma got one wicket. No other bowler could take a wicket. Deepti Sharma gave 44 runs in 4 overs. Arundhati Reddy gave away 29 runs in 3 overs, Prema Rawat gave away 21 runs in 2 overs.

indian innings highlights

Earlier, Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur had won the toss and decided to bat first. India’s first wicket in the form of Smriti Mandhana fell at the score of 30, she was bowled by Marizanne Cap. Vice-captain Mandhana scored 17 runs in 12 balls with the help of 3 fours. After this Shefali Verma hit some good shots, but she too got out in the powerplay. Shefali scored 31 runs in 15 balls with the help of 1 six and 4 fours, she was dismissed by Shabnim Ismail.

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In this match, no Indian batsman could score a half-century, Yastika Bhatia was out after scoring 15 runs, Jemimah Rodriguez was out after scoring 12 runs. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur, playing her 200th T20 International match, scored 24 runs in 22 balls, she was also bowled by Shabnim Ismail. Deepti Sharma scored important 29 runs in 21 balls with the help of 3 fours, Richa Ghosh scored 15 runs in 14 balls.

Marizanne Cap and Shabnim Ismail took 2-2 wickets for South Africa. Kapp gave 27 runs and Shabnim gave 28 runs in 4 overs. Nonkululeko Mlaba, Nadine de Klerk and Ayabanga Khaka took 1 wicket each.