South Africa completed their highest successful chase in T20Is and sealed the five-match series against India with two matches to spare. They were led to 193 by their captain Laura Wolvaardt, who reached her third T20I century, and her fastest, off 47 balls. Wolvaardt shared a 183-run partnership with Sune Luus, whose 64 runs off 42 balls were the perfect support act. The pair were so dominant that South Africa won the match with 21 balls remaining.

The result means South Africa have won all three of their home series this season – against Ireland, Pakistan and now, India – in preparation for June’s T20 World Cup.

Put in to bat, India would have felt they gave themselves a chance of staying alive in the series when they posted their highest total against South Africa. Their innings included three fifty-plus partnerships and appeared well paced after the tone was set by Shafali Verma. After starting relatively slowly (21 off 24 balls) and surviving a short ball barrage from South Africa’s seamers, Shafali accelerated and finished with her highest score in seven innings. When she was dismissed, Harmanpreet Kaur picked up where she left off and smashed 66 of 38 balls to put India in a strong position. Until Wolvaardt got to the crease.

The South African captain continued her rich vein of form as she scored her joint-highest T20I score, her fifth successive fifty-plus score in international cricket, third half-century of the series and both her and South Africa’s fastest fifty and hundred in the format. Her partnership with Luus was South Africa’s second-highest for the first wicket and has all but confirmed the pair as the team’s T20 World Cup openers.

India start well, then stumble briefly

It has become the pattern of the series that India, thanks largely to Shafali, have enjoyed strong starts and this was their best of the series. After losing wickets in the powerplay of the last two matches, their first-wicket stand was unbroken after six over in this one. Their 51 runs may have been fewer than what they would have wanted (they scored 58 in the powerplay in match two) but it meant that they were giving themselves a better chance of avoiding a middle-order collapse. But the ghosts of Durban peeped through when left-arm spinner Nonkululekho Mlaba was brought on immediately after the fielding restrictions were lifted. Her first over cost only four runs and in her second, she took two wickets in two balls. Smriti Mandhana holed out to deep mid-wicket, where Nadine de Klerk took a good catch, and Jemimah Rodrigues, top-edged a sweep to short fine for a first ball duck. India were 68 for 2 after nine overs and nerves would have been jangling.

Harmanpreet hits out

The Indian captain chose the right occasion to get to her first T20I fifty against South Africa and to take India to their highest score of the series so far. After sharing a second-wicket stand of 73 off 42 balls with Shafali, Harmanpreet kept things together when Shafali was dismissed and put pressure on South Africa at the death. She was on 34 when Shafali eventually fell to the short ball and then took on Chloe Tryon by taking three boundaries off her second over. On 48 in the 18th over, Harmanpreet hit Nadine de Klerk over her head for a pinpoint straight four, her seventh of the innings and the shot that took her to fifty. She saved her most destructive shots for the final over, when she hit Tumi Sekhukhune over mid-wicket for a huge six and then tucked into a full toss and sent it over fine leg for six more. Her partnership with Richa Ghosh grew to 51 off 26 balls and ended things off strongly for India.

Wolvaardt whacks it

Undaunted by the task her team faced, Wolvaardt took on the bowling from the first ball when she sent Renuka Singh for four. Three more boundaries came off Kashvee Gautam and before Wolvaardt iced the cake with a straight six down the ground. She was dropped on 31, by Mandhana at extra cover, and responded even more aggressively. In Renuka’s third over, Wolvaardt hit her second six over long-on, sent a low full toss down the ground for four and then made room to slice one over point. Wolvaardt’s fifty came in the fifth over and there was no stopping her. Her on-side dominant play was a standout for the rest of the innings – she scored 84 of her 115 runs on that side of the field, including all her sixes. It didn’t all go her way, though. Wolvaardt was put down again, on 85, by Harmanpreet at extra cover and reached her century with a drive through long-on. Wolvaardt was eventually caught at deep mid-wicket with South Africa 11 runs away from victory.

More injury concerns for India?

India came into this series without Amanjot Kaur, who has a back injury, and will now be concerned about Arundhati Reddy, who left the field with what appeared to be a side strain. Arundhati bowled the fourth and sixth over without issue but when she was brought back for the 10th, she looked uncomfortable and two balls into it, needed on-field assistance. She recovered sufficiently to finish her over but made more work for herself when she gave away five wides and had to bowl an extra ball, but then could not continue. Back-up wicket-keeper Uma Chetry fielded in Arundhati’s place at first, before Anushka Sharma took over for the rest of the game.

Brief scores:
South Africa Women  193 for 1 in 16.3 overs (Laura Wolvaardt 115, Sune Luus 64*; Shreyaka Patil 1-30) beat India Women  192 for 4 in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 37, Harmanpreet Kaur 66, Shafali Verma 64, Richa Gosh 18*; Nonkululeko Mlaba 2-31, Nadine de Klerk 1-27)  by nine wickets

[Cricinfo]

It wasn’t the high-scoring spectacle that people might have expected, especially with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in the house, but that didn’t make the contest any less compelling. Rajasthan Royals defended 159 to consign Lucknow Super Giants to their fourth straight loss of IPL 2026,  and their third in a row at home.

RR owed their batting lift to Ravindra Jadeja, who top scored with 43 not out off 29. His unbeaten 49-run stand with Impact Player Shubham Dubey, whose entry in the 16th over left RR without an extra bowler, pushed their total up to 159 – 40 too many for LSG.

The win meant RR snapped their two-match losing streak to jump to No. 2 on the points table. LSG, meanwhile, were ninth, having the same number of points as Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, both whom have a game in hand.

For the first time in his young IPL career, Sooryavanshi was searching for answers. He began with two fours off his first two deliveries, but didn’t score another run in his next eight. This included a sequence of five dots from left-arm seamer Mohsin Khan.

Hard lengths pinned Sooryavanshi back. Then Mohsin bowled deliveries that kissed the surface and darted away late, with some lift. Off the sixth ball, the pressure got to Sooryavanshi and a hoick across the line ended with Digvesh Rathi running back from extra cover to take a well-judged catch. RR had gone from 32 for 0 to 32 for 3 after four overs.

The first two blows were struck by Mohammed Shami, who overturned a sequence of three consecutive boundaries from Yashasvi Jaiswal by having him glove a sharp bumper to a leaping Rishabh Pant. Then he had Dhruv Jurel nicking a perfect outswinger for a golden duck.

Brought on in the seventh over for his first game after nearly a year on the sidelines due to a stress fracture, Mayank Yadav bowled at speeds in excess of 140kph four times in his opening over. His speeds didn’t translate into effectiveness though, with Shimron Hetmyer flicking a 150kph delivery in his second over for six over deep square. Both Hetmyer and Riyan Parag looked in decent nick until they fell in quick succession, leaving RR 77 for 5 in the 11th.

Parag picked out the long pocket as an attempt to play the helicopter landed in long-on’s hands, while Hetmyer was dismissed by the canny Prince Yadav, whose slower ball had him mis-time one to mid-off.

It wasn’t the most fluent innings. Nor was it a huge struggle. This was Jadeja batting with a revised total in mind and he didn’t take a risk until the last two overs. Between overs 12 and 18, RR hit just three boundaries, but Jadeja found his range at the end, ransacking 20 off Mayank’s final over to take the score to 159. He was helped by a cameo from Dubey, who was brought in for his first game this season. The last two overs produced 32.

Jofra Archer didn’t take a first-ball wicket for a fourth consecutive game but he didn’t have to wait too long. In his second over, he delivered a vicious bumper that hurried Aiden Markram into a mistimed pull and a top edge to the wicketkeeper Jurel.

Between Archer’s first two overs, Nandre Burger also had Rishabh Pant caught behind off a bottom edge. LSG were sinking at 11 for 3, with Ayush Badoni the first wicket via a run out. Pooran survived a probing short-ball examination from Archer and showed signs of kicking-on after enduring a horror start to the season. There was a sumptuous flick, two back-to-back fours off Brijesh Sharma, but Jadeja defied the match-up odds and had him caught at long-on for a 25-ball 22.

Amid the chaos, Mitchell Marsh played himself in. Every time he looked to accelerate, wickets kept falling. Yet, he was quick to pounce on anything short from Ravi Bishnoi and Jadeja, bringing up a measured half-century even as the asking rate rose past 10. His dismissal to Burger in the 16th over with LSG needing 55 off 27 was the end of the contest, with Brijesh and Archer sealing victory in 18 overs. Brijesh finished with 2 for 18, while Archer took 3 for 20.

Brief scores:
Rajasthan Royals 159 for 6 in 20 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 22, Riyan Parag 20, Shimron Hetmyer 22, Ravindra Jadeja 43*, Donovan Fereirra 20, Shubham Dubey 19*; Mohammed Shami 2-30, Prince  Yadav 2-29,  Mohsin Khan 2-17) beat Lucknow Super Giants 119 in 18 overs (Mitchell Marsh 55, Nicholas Pooran 22,  Himmat Singh 15; Jofra  Archer 3-20, Nandre Burger 2-27, Brijesh Sharma  2-18, Ravindra Jadeja 1-29, Ravi Bishnoi 1-23)  by 40 runs

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Chamari Athapaththu’s all-round show helped Sri Lanka level the ODI series against Bangladesh in Rajshahi. The visitors won by four wickets after chasing down the home side’s sub-par 165 all out in 45.5 overs.

Athapaththu, who had missed the first match due to a finger injury, roared back into action with three wickets. She started off with Sarmin Sultana’s wicket in the 16th over, although the batter expressed her disbelief at the umpire’s lbw decision against her. Athapaththu then removed Sobhana Mostary in her next over by having her caught at square leg.

Nilakshika Silva then took a brilliant catch at mid-off to help Athapaththu take her third wicket when Ritu Moni had mistimed a cover drive in the 31st over. Sharmin Akhter, Bangladesh’s top-scorer from the first ODI, fell for a duck to Malki Madara in the fifth over.

Captain Nigar Sultana top-scored on Wednesday with 58 off 101 balls with four boundaries. She had little support at the other end, before Nimesha Meepage had her caught behind in the 41st over.

Madara, Meepage and Inoka Ranaweera took two wickets each while Kavisha Dilhari picked up one.

During the chase, Athapaththu dominated the Bangladesh attack despite little support from her top order. She made 40 off 39 balls with eight fours, before falling to left-arm spinner Nahida Akhter in the 17th over. Nahida gave her a send-off, with Athapaththu staring back at her for several seconds before walking off.

Harshitha Samarawickrema and Hansima Karunaratne then added 79 runs for the fourth wicket to get Sri Lanka close to the 166-run target. Samarawickrama made 50 off 76 balls with seven fours, while Karunaratne struck six fours in her 40 off 64 balls.

Nahida removed both batters, before getting Kaushini Nuthyangana to complete her four-wicket haul. Sultana Khatun and Moni, meanwhile, took one wicket each.

The third and final ODI of the three-match series will also be held in Rajshahi, on April 25.

Brief scores:
Sri Lanka Women  166 for 6 in 38.2 overs (Chamari Athapaththu 40, Harshitha Samarawickrama 50, Hansima Karunaratne 40; Sultana Khatun 1-36, Ritu Moni 1-27,  Nahida Akter 4-21) beat Bangladesh Women 165 in 45.5 overs (Sarmin Sultana 25, Nigar Sultana 58, Nahider Akter 20; Malki Madara 2-30, Nimesha Meepage 2-29, Inoka Ranaweera 2-28, Chamari Athapaththu 3-36,  )  by four wickets

[Cricinfo]