India dropped Jemimah Rodrigues, which meant a first opportunity in the series for opener Priya Punia
South Africa opted to bowl vs India
Win-toss and bowl seems to be the mantra for the captains this series. It was no different on Sunday as Laura Woolvardt, filling in for the unwell Sune Luus for a second straight game, elected to bowl in Lucknow, seemingly wanting to make use of the early-morning moisture.
India dropped Jemimah Rodrigues after three single-digit scores, which meant a first opportunity in the series for opener Priya Punia. Jhulan Goswami was handed a rest due to a minor hand injury, paving the way for an ODI debut for left-arm spinning allrounder Radha Yadav, who over the last two years has become somewhat of a regular in T20Is.
South Africa kept faith in the same XI that took them 2-1 up in the series on Friday, when Lizelle Lee’s blistering 132 laid the ground work for their chase of 249 that they eventually won via the DLS method when bad light stopped play after 46.3 overs.
India: Priya Punia, Smriti Mandhana, Punam Raut, Mithali Raj (capt, Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma, Sushma Verma (wk), Radha Yadav, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Mansi Joshi
South Africa: Laura Woolvardt (capt), Lizelle Lee, Laura Goodall, Mignon du Preez, Nadine de Klerk, Anne Bosch, Sinalo Jacta (wk), Shabnim Ismail, Tune Sekhukhune, Nodumiso Shangase, Ayabongo Khaka
Shashank Kishore is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo