Courtesy: BCCI
On Thursday, October 24, the Indian women’s cricket team won the first ODI of the three-match series against New Zealand by 59 runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. After India were bundled out for 227 runs in 44.3 overs, the New Zealand batters weren’t able to get anywhere close to the victory target as Radha Yadav picked up three wickets.
After winning the toss, Smriti Mandhana, the stand-in captain of India, who was replacing Harmanpreet Kaur in the leadership role due to a niggle, decided to bat first, but she lost her wicket for five off seven. Shafali Verma scored a quick-fire 33 off 22 with five fours and one maximum before the 30s from Yastika Bhatia and Jemimah Rodrigues brought Indian innings back on track.
Debutant Tejal Hasabanis (42 off 64) and Deepti Sharma (41 off 51) were the top two scorers for India, helping them get past 200 before they were bundled out for 227 runs in 44.3 overs, which seemed a below par total at the time. Amelia Kerr and Jess Kerr picked up four and three wickets each for New Zealand, to ensure that India were bundled out before playing out their 50 overs.
In the run chase, New Zealand were never ahead of the game throughout their innings, losing wickets at regular intervals amidst some quality bowling from the Indians. Brooke Halliday top scored for them with 39 off 54, while Maddy Green also got into the 30s, but ultimately, they were bowled out by India for just 168 runs in 40.4 overs as Radha Yadav registered figures of 3/35 in 8.4 overs.
With this comprehensive performance, India women’s cricket team took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series with the second ODI set to be played on the weekend at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad as well.
