Navi Mumbai(PTI): India rode on Shafali Verma's blistering 87 and Deepti Sharma's composed half-century to post a challenging 298/6 against South Africa in the Women's World Cup final, here on Sunday.

Put in to bat after a two-hour delayed start due to a wet outfield, India were off to a flying start as Shafali and vice-captain Smriti Mandhana (45) added 104 for the opening wicket at nearly seven runs per over.

Shafali, drafted in for the semifinal against Australia following Pratika Rawal’s injury, continued her dream run with her first ODI fifty in over three years -- her fifth overall -- before falling for 87 off 78 balls with seven fours and two sixes.

South Africa clawed back through Ayabonga Khaka (3/58 from nine overs) and Nonkululeko Mlaba (1/47), who triggered a middle-overs slide after India’s commanding start to deny the hosts a psychological 300-mark.

Khaka’s twin strikes removed Shafali and Jemimah Rodrigues (24), while Mlaba dismissed skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (20) just as a partnership with Deepti Sharma was blooming.

Deepti then anchored the innings with a steady 58 off as many balls, her 18th ODI half-century and third in this tournament, adding vital runs with Richa Ghosh (34 from 24 balls) before the latter was dismissed by Khaka in the penultimate over.

Brief Scores

India 298/7; 50 overs (Shafali Verma 87, Deepti Sharma 58, Smriti Mandhana 45, Richa Ghosh 34; Ayabonga Khaka 3/58) vs South Africa.

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Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.

The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.

"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.

"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.

Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.

As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.

Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.

Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.

He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.

Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".