10.21pm That's all from us at ESPNcricinfo. See you on Sept 26 for the second T20I. Till then, on behalf of Diamond Khan and Ankur Dhawan, this is Sreshth Shah signing off.
10.16pm Time for the presentation.
Deepti Sharma, Player of the Match: "This is my best bowling performance. We bowled how I had planned. Got help from the wicket too. Plan was to bowl wicket to wicket. It was turning, so pitched it up too. Mindset was to bowl in front. We were confident at the halfway mark. And we wanted to enjoy. If you enjoy, you automatically do well."
Harmanpreet Kaur, winning captain:"I was nervous at the halfway stage but we knew that we'd have something for the bowlers. They did a great job. We were doing a lot of fitness before coming here and today we got the result on the field. The way we fielded and bowled, I was happy. Lot of areas to improve. Need to improve a lot with the bat. We are playing with an extra batter, so if batters do well, we can do even better. I always had trust on Radha for the final over."
Sune Luus, losing captain: "The way our new-ball bowlers bowled, they gave us a good platform to work on. We thought 130 was a total we could chase. Chasing 130 is about when you go for the charge. Lee gave a good platform. The batsmen who then came in just couldn't execute. The way Deepti and the spinners bowled, you could definitely see there was more spin as the evening progressed."
10.10pm Crowd goes ballistic as the teams shake hands. Mignon du Preez's half-century kept South Africa in the hunt, but Deepti's spell of three maidens really strangled the visitors. India go 1-0 up as they walk out of the field with a wide smile on their faces. Stick around for the presentation. Got a funny feeling this series will be very exciting
N Mlaba st †Bhatia b Yadav 0 (1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00
SA need 12 off two. Still possible.
M du Preez st †Bhatia b Yadav 59 (43b 4x4 3x6) SR: 137.20
SA need 12 off three.
SA need 12 off 4. And Radha pulls out of her delivery stride as du Preez tried to pre-meditate
SA need 12 off five.
South Africa need 18 to win. How crucial were Deepti's 18 dot balls tonight? Final over to go. Du Preez on strike. Radha with the ball
END OF OVER:19 | 8 Runs | SA-W: 113/8 (18 runs required from 6 balls, RR: 5.94, RRR: 18.00)
- Mignon du Preez53 (39b)
- Tumi Sekhukhune2 (3b)
- Deepti Sharma4-3-8-3
- Shikha Pandey4-0-18-2
around the wicket
Sam: "@Sreshth: He (Irfan) still ended up on the losing side!.. cricket is indeed a funny game"
Daichi: "Deepti is gonna bowl the 19th, which my the looks of this match, will be most crucial over of the innings. Save your best for dire situations! " -- Looks like you're right. She's yet to concede a run
END OF OVER:18 | 1 Run 1 Wkt | SA-W: 105/8 (26 runs required from 12 balls, RR: 5.83, RRR: 13.00)
- Tumi Sekhukhune0 (1b)
- Mignon du Preez48 (35b)
- Shikha Pandey4-0-18-2
- Harmanpreet Kaur3-0-20-1
Sekhukhune.
A Khaka b Pandey 5 (14b 0x4 0x6) SR: 35.71
Thejus Krishna: "Kaur always makes some bizarre moves. Not sure why Sharma was changed. She should have bowled out her 4 overs."
Amit: "What is the exact number of lowest runs given in a T20 match in a cricket history" -- Remember Mohammad Irfan conceding just 1 run in his four-over spell at the CPL some years ago. His spell that night read 4-3-1-2
END OF OVER:17 | 12 Runs | SA-W: 104/7 (27 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 6.11, RRR: 9.00)
- Ayabonga Khaka5 (11b)
- Mignon du Preez47 (33b)
- Harmanpreet Kaur3-0-20-1
- Radha Yadav3-0-23-0
South Africa need 39 off 24.