Harmanpreet Kaur-led Team India win toss, opt to field against South Africa in 3rd T20I

CHENNAI: Harmanpreet Kaur-led Team India won the toss and decided to field against Laura Wolvaardt's South Africa in the 3rd T20I match of the series at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday.

In the three-match series, South Africa won the first game by 12 runs. The upcoming game will be crucial for the Women in Blue as they need to win the match to level the series. The second T20I match was abandoned after rain played a spoilspot.

Meanwhile, Smriti Mandhana won the Women's Player of the Month for June after her stupendous performance against the Proteas in the ODI and one-off Test series.

South Africa Captain Laura Wolvaardt said that they are happy to put up decent scores on the scoreboard in the first two matches of the series.

"We would've had a bat, we did well twice while batting first so we'd have done the same. Very happy to have put up decent scores two games in a row. A series win would put the cherry on the top. Last game for us to try and get a few combinations right before the T20 World Cup. Same team," Wolvaardt said.

India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said that in the first T20I match they bowled well apart from the last two overs.

"We're going to bowl first, looking at the conditions we'd like to bowl. We've bowled really well apart from the last two overs, we were in the game. We fielded well too, want to take those things into this game. Looking at the side, we have a balanced side. Having players like these is a great opportunity for us. Same team," Harmanpreet said.

South Africa Women Playing XI: Laura Wolvaardt (C), Tazmin Brits, Marizanne Kapp, Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Anneke Bosch, Annerie Dercksen, Eliz-mari Marx, Sinalo Jafta (Wk), Ayabonga Khaka, Nonkululeko Mlaba.

India Women Playing XI: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Deepti Sharma, Uma Chetry (Wk), S Sajana, Pooja Vastrakar, Shreyanka Patil, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav.