India seals thrilling win in ICC Women's World Cup Qualifier final

Colombo: Indian women Cricket team gave India another proud moment to cherish by clinching win in a cliffhanger encounter in the final of the 2016/17 ICC Women's World Cup Qualifier, defeating South Africa by one wicket on the final delivery of the match at P Sara Oval ground here on Tuesday.

Though the player of the match award was conferred to Deepti Sharma for her 71-run inning off 89 balls with 8 fours, it was simply a team effort to win the final, which could have gone either way till the final ball of the match.

It would be unfair to rate the performances as all the girls gave their best on the ground and held their nerves to lead India to a historic victory. It was a dream-run for the Indian women's team as they remained undefeated in all the eight matches played throughout the tournament. During the unbeaten-run, India defeated teams like arch-rival Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and South Africa, twice.

Apart from the nail-biting final, India managed to win all their matches dominantly without coming under pressure throughout the entire matches.

A glance at the trilling ICC Women's World Cup Qualifier final:

Winning the toss, South Africa decided to bat first, with all of their players getting off to good starts but failing to capitalise. Mignon du Preez was the highest scorer for South Africa with her 40-run knock. The Protease team managed to aggregate a handsome total of 244/10 in 49.4 over.

India, in reply, lost its first wicket early with just 20 runs on the board. Mona Meshram and Deepti Sharma, however, added 124 runs for the second wicket to help their team reach to 144 runs, before Deepti departed after adding crucial 71-run knock.

Just after four more runs, Meshram also departed at the individual score of 59 runs off 82 balls with 7 fours and a six. Veda Krishnamurthy scored quick 31 runs off just 27 balls hitting 3 fours. Krishnamurthy helped India reach 186 runs in 40.2 overs before going back to pavilion.

It skipper Harmanpreet Kaur who scored the winning runs in the final over. India needed 9 runs in the 50^th over with two wickets in hand. Shockingly, Poonam Yadav got run out, and subsequently South African bowler Marcia Letsoalo managed to bowl three consecutive dot balls to the Indian captain.

Kaur, however, on the second last ball of the match smashed a much needed six to leave only two runs to score off the final ball for the win. On the final delivery of the match, she mistimed a slog shot which should have been taken but wasn’t for India's good. 11^th girl, Rajeshwari Gayakward entirely dedicated herself to quick running as she completed the second run with a desperate dive which helped India seal a thrilling win.

South African all-rounder Sene Luus was conferred with the player of the series award for her amazing contribution to the side throughout the tournament.