Cape Town - India women took an unassailable 2-1 lead in the five-match Cricket South Africa (CSA) Women's T20 series after the fourth match against the Proteas was washed out at SuperSport Park on Wednesday.
South Africa's openers, Lizelle Lee (58*) and captain Dané van Niekerk (55) got their side off to a blazing start with a 103-run stand from 75 deliveries before the dismissal of the latter, who was caught at mid-off by Rumeli Dhar off Deepti Sharma in the middle of the 13th over.
Big hitter, Chloe Tryon was promoted up the order to No 3 in hopes to continue the momentum, but Dhar took another catch off Poonam Yadav, seeing her off for just two runs.
Suné Luus followed soon after, losing her wicket for five runs, trapped lbw by Sharma who ended on 2/33 from three overs.
The rain began to fall soon after Mignon du Preez (2*) joined Lee, who did not allow the fall of wickets phase her on the other end, she reached her half-century in 33 balls and her eventual 58 in 38 deliveries, including two fours and five sixes.
South Africa's only option now is to attempt to draw the series when they play the fifth and final match in Cape Town this Saturday, February 24.
The encounter will be broadcast live on SuperSport 2 at 13:00.
Proteas T20 squad:
Dané van Niekerk (captain, Eastern Province), Marizanne Kapp (Eastern Province), Trisha Chetty (Gauteng), Shabnim Ismail (Gauteng), Ayabonga Khaka (Gauteng), Masabata Klaas (North West), Suné Luus (Northerns), Odine Kirsten (Northerns), Mignon du Preez (Northerns), Lizelle Lee (North West), Chloe Tryon (KwaZulu-Natal Coastal), Nadine de Klerk (Northerns), Raisibe Ntozakhe (Gauteng), Moseline Daniels (Boland).