India faces South Africa in first real test

This is the city that gave the world Emmeline Pankhurst. She fought hard to give the women of this country the right to vote and impacted other parts of the world, too.

Women have come a long way since that suffragette moment. As has women’s cricket, from the times of talented, but neglected, unpaid female players.

Even at the time of the FIFA World Cup, the Women’s T20 World Cup has managed to attract plenty of attention. And on Sunday afternoon here at Old Trafford, India is taking on South Africa in one of the biggest matches yet. It is also a potential quarterfinal.

In this Group of Death, India and South Africa are pooled alongside Australia, which is looking in ominous touch. The women from Down Under are on top of Group A with three wins in as many games. The first of those was against South Africa. It was rather a comprehensive one, too.

Laura Wolvaardt’s women have bounced back since then, beating Pakistan by two wickets. But they know the neighbouring Asian country is a different kettle of fish, though they have the pleasant memories of thrashing India 4-1 in a bilateral T20I series in South Africa just a couple of months ago.

India then went on to lose in England (1-2) too, ahead of the World Cup. But the Women in Blue have had a great start to their World Cup campaign, but the wins, authoritative though they were, came against Pakistan and the Netherlands.

This is India’s first real test in the competition.

But the batting of Smriti Mandhana, who hit 68 and 74 in those matches, and Shafali Verma, who returned to form with a fifty in the last match, up the order and Richa Ghosh lower down seems to deliver what it has promised.

The team management may not, however, mind more runs from Jemimah Rodrigues and captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who will feature in a historic 200th T20I. It will be interesting to see who they bring in in place of Shreyanka Patil, the injured off-spinner who is out of the tournament.

The Proteas will want to remind India of that recent series. They are a well-balanced side that has had some great results over the last couple of years.

Wolvaardt leads a strong batting line-up, while the return of the pacy Shabnim Ismail has made the attack sharper. Then, there are the quality all-rounders like Marizanne Kapp and Annerie Dercksen.