India women thrash the Proteas by a convincing 8-wicket victory

The Indian women cricket team thrashed South Africa by eight wickets in the first of the three-match One-day Internationals series on Wednesday in Vadodra. India got off to a flyer chasing a target of 165. The team didn't lose any wicket in the first 20 overs.

Half-centuries from both the openers Priya Punia and Jemimah Rodrigues strengthened India's position in the chase. Punam Raut and Priya Punia further built a 45-run partnership for the second wicket before Raut was scalped by Nadine de Klerk. Punia then along with skipper Mithali Raj chased down the target with eight overs still left. Earlier, Laura Wolvaardt and Marizanne Kapp's knocks of 39 and 54 respectively allowed South Africa to post a score of 164/10 after opting to bat first. The second and third One-day Internationals are scheduled on October 11 and October 14 respectively at the Reliance Stadium in Vadodara.

READ: Smriti Mandhana suffers toe injury, to miss ODI series against SA

READ: Virat Kohli proposes double points for away wins in Test Championship

Mithali Raj becomes the first female to complete 2 decades in international cricket

Indian captain Mithali Raj on Wednesday became the first female player to last more than 20 years in international cricket. She led India to an emphatic eight-wicket win over South Africa Women in the first ODI of the three-match series while achieving this. Mithali, who made her ODI debut against Ireland on June 26, 1999, completed 20 years and 105 days in the 50-over format. The right-handed batswoman has played 204 ODIs till now, the most by a female cricketer, followed by England's Charlotte Edwards (191), India's Jhulan Goswami (178) and Alex Blackwell (144) of Australia.

Mithali Raj retired from T20 cricket last month and has served as the captain during India Women’s first-ever T20I played in Derby back in 2006. Following her win in that game against England Women, Mithali played another 88 games in which she scored 2364 runs - the most by an Indian woman in T20Is.

READ: Faf DuPlessis says young South African players can learn from Shami

READ: Iran women can now watch football in stadiums

(With Inputs from ANI)