Christchurch, March 27 : Smriti Mandhana, Mithali Raj and Shafali Verma scored fifties to help India post 274/7 against South Africa in their must-win ICC Women’s World Cup match at Hagley Oval on Sunday. Openers Verma (53) and Mandhana (71) made their intentions clear early on after India elected to bat. The duo found boundaries with ease as Verma took on Shabnim Ismail for three consecutive fours. The pair stitched a solid 91-run opening stand before a miscomm cation resulted in an unfortunate mix-up in the middle and Verma was run out. South Africa bagged another wicket as incoming Yastika Bhatia (2) played what was set to be a legside wide on to her stumps off the bowling of Chloe Tryon. Mandhana and Mithali got into rebuilding, adding 82 runs together for the third wicket. Just when India were cruising to the 200-run mark, Mandhana miscued one off Masabata Klaas and gave a catch at mid-off. With the pressure building on India in their do-or-die match, Mithali (68) anchored India’s innings. Along the way, she became the second highest run-getter in World Cups. Klaas struck again and this time bagged the prized wicket of India skipper, who was caught at mid-off by Tryon. Towards the end, Harmanpreet Kaur’s (48) late hitting took India to a competitive total.