India lose to South Africa; Richa Ghosh’s heroics in vain

The Indian cricket team lost to South Africa by three wickets in its third Women's ODI World Cup 2025 match at the Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Thursday.

Richa Ghosh played an inspired innings of 94 off 77 balls, laced with 11 fours and four sixes, to rescue India from a perilous position and help them post a total of 251/10.

However, heroics from the South Africa cricket team’s top-scorer Nadine de Klerk (84 not out from 54 balls) pulled off a thrilling run chase as India lost their first match of the World Cup.

Chasing 252 to win, South Africa were pushed on to the back foot early on after wickets from Kranti Gaud and Amanjot Kaur reduced them to 18/2.

South African captain Laura Wolvaardt and Marizanne Kapp then built a 39-run run partnership before the latter was bowled by Sneh Rana in the 14th over.

The setback deepened when Anneke Bosch departed in the very next over after being caught and bowled by Deepti Sharma.

Sinalo Jafta’s brief stay in the middle came to an end with South Africa on 81/5 in the 20th over.

However, the Proteas fought back with a 61-run partnership between Laura Wolvaardt and Chloe Tryon but the South African captain perished after a well-made 70.

Chloe Tryon (49 off 66 balls) and Nadine de Klerk then went on to play a couple of blinders to take the game deep for South Africa. Nadine de Klerk, in particular, struck 39 in the last three overs of the chase to get them over the finish line.

Earlier, after being put in to bat by South Africa, India made a steady start with openers Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal sharing a 55-run stand for the first wicket.

Smriti Mandhana fell to Nonkululeko Mlaba in the 11th over after making 23 off 32 balls and breaking a 28-year-old record for scoring most women’s ODI runs in a calendar year.

The left-hander’s knock took her tally to 982 ODI runs in 2025 as she surpassed former Australian cricketer Belinda Clark’s total of 970 runs, which she achieved in 1997.

After Mandhana’s dismissal, Pratika Rawal put on a 38-run partnership with Harleen Deol, who perished at the end of the 17th over.

Harleen Deol’s dismissal triggered a mini collapse as India went on to lose the wickets of Pratika Rawal, Jemimah Rodrigues, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma for just 19 runs, leaving the hosts reeling at 102/6 at the end of the 27th over.

In need of a steadying hand, Amanjot Kaur and Richa Ghosh strung together a 51-run stand to push India past the 150-run mark.

Amanjot Kaur fell soon after as Sneh Rana made her way to the middle to join Richa Ghosh, who brought up her fifty in 53 balls before scoring 44 runs off her next 24 deliveries to put India into a commanding position.

Sneh Rana also played her part with a 24-ball 33 that helped push India’s total beyond the 250-run mark.

India will take on defending champions Australia in their next World Cup match on Sunday.

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