South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt Reflects on Loss to India in Chennai Test

Following a tough loss against India in a one-off Test match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, South Africa’s captain Laura Wolvaardt shared her thoughts on the game. She pointed out that conceding 500 runs on the first day was far from ideal and acknowledged the errors made by her team throughout the match.

Despite the defeat, Wolvaardt expressed pride in her team’s performance. She said, “The character shown by this group in the last couple of days has been absolutely incredible. To concede 500 runs on day one wasn’t ideal. A lot of people didn’t think we’d take it to 4 PM on the fourth day. Very proud of the team. There’s a lot of errors. We were fighting very hard to get that draw there. Each and every batter feels they could have hung a little bit longer. If we could have restricted them to slightly less on day one, I don’t know. It was amazing to see, each and every batter had that mindset to bat as long as they could.”

Wolvaardt herself scored 20 runs in the first innings and an impressive 122 from 314 balls in the second innings, including 16 boundaries.

India’s Shafali Verma and Sneh Rana were standout performers. Verma scored a double-century (205 runs off 197 balls) in the first innings and an unbeaten 24 runs in the second. Rana took eight wickets in the first innings and two in the second, earning her the Player of the Match award.