ICC Women's World Cup: South Africa defeats India by 3 wickets

In the  ICC Women's World Cup, South Africa defeated India by three wickets at the Hagley Oval, ending the ‘Women in Blue’s' hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals. South Africa reached the target of 275 runs in the last ball of the last over in a nail-biting match. Earlier, Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana and skipper Mithali Raj struck half-centuries and set the platform for India to reach a competitive 274 for seven. But South Africa fought back, supported by a 125-run second-wicket stand between Lara Goodall and Laura Woolvardt, which came in just 113 balls. Laura Woolvardt scored 80 runs and Mignon du Preez hit 52 runs for the winners. With 3 runs required off 2 deliveries to win the game, Deepti Sharma had dismissed the dangerous-looking Mignon du Preez after the batter lofted the delivery towards long-off, where Harmanpreet Kaur took a comfortable catch. While the Indian players ran to celebrate, the umpire asked du Preez to wait, later confirming that she was dismissed off a no-ball. The South African batter was called back as India's campaign eventually ended in a heartbreak, with du Preez smashing a four off the last delivery of the over to steer the Proteas to win.

We have our four semi-finalists #CWC22 pic.twitter.com/oo1fU8SR7u

— ICC Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) March 27, 2022

This was India's final group stage match. South Africa has already secured a place in the semi-finals.