Jemimah Rodrigues' Career-Best 123 Powers India into Final

India defeated South Africa by 23 runs in Colombo, sending them to the tri-series final. Rodrigues' ton helped India post a commanding 337 on the board.

Chasing their first win of the series, South Africa received an early jolt when Lara Goodall edged one to the keeper in just the second over. Despite a recovery, South Africa made only 40 runs from the first 10 overs, and the required rate shot up. Annerie Dercksen led her side's charge, but South Africa were always in need of a spell where they could accumulate quick runs.

While Dercksen kept fighting, South Africa were in trouble at 188/5 when Chloe Tryon walked out. Needing 128 from the final ten overs, Tryon and Dercksen pressed on the accelerator. Sneh Rana was picked apart for 19 in an over, bringing the equation down to 82 off 36.

Earlier, India got off to a poor start, losing three wickets inside the powerplay. Smriti Mandhana and Rodrigues then pulled off a commendable job to arrest a slide with a solid partnership. Rodrigues made a start similar to Harmanpreet and raced to 28 off just 20 balls, reaching her fifty off just 40 balls.

Deepti Sharma and Rodrigues put on a century stand to deflate the opposition. Batting at 5 off 15 at one point, Deepti got going with successive boundaries off Tryon, and from thereon, it was just one-way traffic.

Brief Scores:
India Women 337/9 in 50 overs (Jemimah Rodrigues 123, Deepti Sharma 93; Masabata Klaas 2/51) beat South Africa Women 314/7 in 50 overs (Annerie Dercksen 81, Chloe Tyron 67; Amanjot Kaur 3/59) by 23 runs.