Navi Mumbai, Nov 2 (IANS) Shafali Verma struck her first half-century in three years in ODIs while Deepti Sharma bagged her third of this Women’s World Cup as India posted 298/7 in their 50 overs against South Africa in the final at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Sunday.

Shafali, at 21 years, the youngest to score a fifty in the World Cup final, struck a superb 87 coming into the ODI team after a year and raised a century partnership with Smriti Mandhana (45). South Africa pulled things back in the middle overs, but Deepti Sharma scored her third half-century of this World Cup to prop up the innings. She and Richa Ghosh added 47 runs for the sixth wicket to help India push closer to the 300-run mark. With a little better execution, they could have taken the team past 300.

Asked to bat first, India got off to a superb start with the old-firm partnership of Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana raising 100 runs for the opening wicket, in the process completing 1000 runs of their partnership as openers. They are the fourth Indian pair to do so.

Shafali, who came into the side in place of the injured Pratika Rawal just before the semifinal, started aggressively, hitting seven fours and two sixes in her 78-ball 87.

She started with a boundary off Ayabonga Khaka in the second over after Marizanne Kapp started with a maiden over. She took her chances, raised 64 runs in the Power-play with Mandhana and scored her first fifty in three years in this format off 49 balls, hitting five boundaries and one six — the first six of the final, which came off Nadine de Klerk.

Smriti Mandhana, who had started slowly and had changed gears and was looking good for a fifty, fell for 45 off 58 balls, studded with eight fours.

The 21-year-old Shafali, the youngest player to represent India, was lucky to get a reprieve, dropped by Anneke Bosch when on 57, sending a slog-sweep miles into the sky, only for Bosch to put down a sitter at deep mid-wicket. She struck another six before getting out at the most inappropriate time, when in sight of a maiden century, before lobbing a tired shot to Sune Luus off Khaka for 87.

India lost their way from 166/2 when Shafali got out, as Jemimah Rodrigues (24) and Harmanpreet Kaur (20), the heroes of India’s stunning victory over Australia in the semifinals, were out cheaply.

Spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba helped South Africa pull things back and with a superb second spell after conceding 29 runs in her first three overs. Her reward for the good work was the prized scalp of the Indian captain. India fell to 223/4 after Harman was out and soon it became 245/5 as Amanjot Kaur departed for a 14-ball 12, caught and bowled by de Klerk. India might have missed a trick or two by sending Amanjot ahead of Richa Sharma, who had hammered a superb 94 when these two teams met in the group stage.

All-rounder Deepti Sharma kept going from the other end while Richa went for shots from the other, hitting a six off de Klerk. A six off Kapp off a wide yorker was the pick of Richa’s shots before she was put down by Bosch off Kapp in the 48th over, before offering an easy catch in the deep in the next over. Deepti completed her half-century off 52 balls, her sixth fifty in ODIs, but India failed to cross the psychological mark of 300 runs.

Brief Scores: India 298/7 in 50 overs (Shafali Verma 87, Deepti Sharma 54, Richa Ghosh 34; Ayabonga Khaka 3-58) against South Africa.

–IANS

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