Opener Shafali, who became the youngest T20I debutant for India while playing the first game, top-scored for the hosts with a 33-ball 46.
India eves thrash South Africa by 51 runs in fourth T20I. (Photo: Twitter/@BCCIWomen)
India Women on Tuesday outplayed South Africa by 51 runs in the fourth T20I to take an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the five-match series in Surat.
After the second and third matches were washed out without a ball bowled, India bettered on their 1-0 lead taken in the first game to win the rain-affected fourth match which was shortened to 17 overs a side.
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Opener Shafali, who became the youngest T20I debutant for India while playing the first game, top-scored for the hosts with a 33-ball 46. Her blitzkrieg included five fours and two sixes. Jemimah Rodrigues smashed a 22-ball 33 as India led by Harmanpreet Kaur who scored 16, put up 140 for 4 in 17 overs after being asked to bat first.
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For the visitors, medium pacer Nadine de Klerk returned best figures of 2 for 24.
In their reply, South Africa were never in the chase as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Leg-spinner Poonam took two wickets in back-to-back deliveries in the 11th over and snared another two overs later to help her side coast to victory. She returned figures of 3 for 13 in three overs.
South Africa managed only 89 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in 17 overs.
For South Africa, only Laura Wolvaardt (23) and Tazmin Brits (20) scored in double figures.
The fifth and last game is on Friday.
In the first match, India successfully defended a target of 131 thanks to a brilliant spell from off-spinner Deepti Sharma, who bowled three consecutive maidens and took three wickets in that period, helping India dismiss South Africa for 119.
The T20 series will be followed by a three-match ODI series in Vadodara.
Brief scores: India Women 140 for 4 in 17 overs (Shafali Verma 46, Jemimah Rodrigues 33; Nadine de Klerk 2/22) beat South Africa Women 89 for 7 in 17 overs (Laura Wolvaardt 23; Poonam Yadav 3/13) by 51 runs.
(With inputs from IANS)
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