Courtesy: BCCI
On Sunday, October 27, the Indian women’s cricket team lost to New Zealand by 76 runs in the second ODI of the three-match series while defending a 259-run total at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. With this comprehensive win, New Zealand levelled the series at 1-1, and they will be aiming to get the better of India once more in the third and deciding ODI in two day’s time at the same venue.
After winning the toss, Sophie Devine, the captain of New Zealand, decided to bat first and the openers provided a magnificent start to the visitors with an 87-run stand. Veteran Suzie Bates (58 off 70), was the aggressor in the power play stage, while Georgia Plimmer (41 off 50) also got into her own as their opening partnership started to take the game away from India.
The Indian bowlers made a very good comeback into the match with four wickets in quick succession, to reduce the White Ferns to 139/4 in 31.3 overs. Following that, the 82-run stand for the fifth wicket between captain Sophie Devine and Maddy Green put New Zealand in the box seat before they finished with a very good total of 259/9 in their allotted overs.
Sophie Devine was the top scorer for New Zealand with her 79 off 86, which included six fours and one maximum, while Radha Yadav picked up a four-wicket haul for the Women in Blue. In the run chase, India had a poor start as they lost three of their top order batters inside the first five overs of their innings as Smriti Mandhana didn’t trouble the scorers, while Shafali Verma and Yastika Bhatia were dismissed quite cheaply too.
The wickets kept falling for India from both ends as none of the middle order batters put together a substantial innings, which led to the hosts being reduced to 108/8 in 27 overs. Then, Radha Yadav (48 off 64) and Saima Thakor (29 off 54) put together a 70-run stand for the ninth wicket, to give the Women in Blue a glimmer of hope, but they were ultimately bowled out for 183 runs in 47.1 overs, to lose the match by a big margin.
