India, South Africa Keep Semi-Final Race Alive with Convincing Wins

India and South Africa strengthened their ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 semi-final hopes with dominant victories in their Group A fixtures on Wednesday.

South Africa thrashed the Netherlands by 88 runs in Bristol after Tazmin Brits smashed an unbeaten 114 off 69 balls—her maiden T20I century—to power the Proteas to 208/1, their highest-ever Women's T20 World Cup total. The Netherlands were then restricted to 120/8, with Ayabonga Khaka claiming 3/19 as South Africa secured their third consecutive win.

In Manchester, India defeated Bangladesh by five wickets to remain firmly in contention for the knockout stage. Bangladesh posted 136/8, but India's spin duo of Sree Charani and Radha Yadav combined for five wickets to restrict the total. Charani also became India's highest wicket-taker in a single Women's T20 World Cup edition with 12 wickets.

Chasing 137, Shafali Verma starred with a blistering 53 off 34 balls, reaching her half-century in just 29 deliveries. Contributions from Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur, and Deepti Sharma guided India to 139/5 with more than three overs to spare.

The results leave India on six points, behind Australia in Group A, while South Africa boosted their qualification chances with a significant improvement in net run rate. The battle for the two semi-final spots will now be decided in the final round of group-stage matches.

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