In 10 straight T20Is lost, New Zealand came to the Women's T20 World Cup. But they timed it just right. When it mattered the most, New Zealand showed how top-class it can be in all departments to thrash a listless India by 58 runs in a Group A match of the 2024 Women's T20 World Cup at the Dubai International Stadium here on Friday.
With Suzie Bates and Georgia Plimmer giving New Zealand a great start through a 67-run partnership for the opening wicket, captain Sophie Devine put strong finishing touches by hitting seven boundaries – mixed with sheer power and good placement in her unbeaten 36-ball 57 at a strike rate of 158.33 – as they posted 160/4 on a sticky pitch.
Chasing 161, which would have been India's most successful chase in the history of the tournament, Harmanpreet Kaur's team never got going and fell like nine pins to be bowled out for 102 in 19 overs. No batter went past 15 in an insipid performance as Rosemary Mair took 4-19, while Lea Tahuhu picked 3-15 and Eden Carson broke the game open by getting the Indian openers inside the first four overs.
The big margin of defeat is a bad blow to the hopes of Indian team going into the semifinals. But the batting line-up did not start the chase smoothly when Shafali Verma flicked off Eden but got a leading edge that popped back to the spinner for an easy return catch. In the fourth over, Smriti Mandhana was caught dancing down the wicket to go big but holed out to long-off to become Eden's second wicket.
Rosemary Mair found some good swing and was rewarded for it when her sharp inswinger trapped India's new number three batter Harmanpreet Kaur lbw for 15. With New Zealand keeping things tight, Jemimah Rodrigues fell in a bid to break the shackles – chipping to mid-on off an outside off delivery from Lea Tahuhu.
India continued to slide when Richa, trying for a bat-face early, got a leading edge and was caught by mid-off off a slower ball from Lea. From there, the rest of the batters went without really trying too much to chip away at the margin of defeat in a comprehensive hammering for India as the White Ferns shone bright at the Ring of Fire in Dubai's cool evening.
As of now, New Zealand's openers Suzie and Georgia have been very positive in their effort – walking down the pitch and piercing gaps to find boundaries and partly helped by India's misfields. While Suzie took two fours off Pooja Vastrakar, Georgia smacked a four and six off Deepti Sharma.
Georgia took two boundaries off Arundhati Reddy in the final over of Power-play, while Suzie survived on 18 when Richa Ghosh couldn't hold on to the top edge off her bat, as New Zealand ended the Power-play at 55/0. Superb 67-run opening stand ended when Suzie didn't time her slog off Arundhati and found deep mid-wicket.
One came down the track to loft Asha Sobhana, but holed out to long-on after bringing two for India. Sophie initiated her brilliant knock by hitting consecutive fours off Asha's short deliveries while Amelia Kerr wasn't in her flow.
On the last ball of the 14th over, Amelia was given a lifeline when her run-out at the striker's end was declared a dead ball by on-field umpires as Harmanpreet, Smriti Mandhana, and Amol Muzumdar were seen having a long discussion with them and the fourth umpire. Replay showed Amelia was run out while taking a second run just after the umpire returned Deepti her cap at the non-striker's end.
But in the over that followed, Amelia went for a cut off Renuka Singh Thakur and punched out a diving extra cover. Sophie did not have much trouble finding boundaries- a straight drive and cut off Renuka fetched her back-to-back fours, followed by advancing deep into the crease to pull Shreyanka for another boundary.
Brooke Halliday was creative in getting a couple of fours through reverse sweep and sweep before giving a catch to extra cover off Renuka. Sophie gave New Zealand a strong finish with a pull off Deepti for four, followed by getting her fifty with a carve over mid-off against Shreyanka fetching her another boundary.
India was left with having only three fielders outside the 25-yard circle when an over-rate penalty in the last over also came working in New Zealand's favor as 21 runs came off the last two overs, which proved sufficient enough for them to be too good for India.
Brief scores:
New Zealand 160/4 in 20 overs (Sophie Devine 57 not out, Georgia Plimmer 34; Renuka Singh Thakur 2/27) beat India 102 all out in 19 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 15; Rosemary Mair 4/19, Lea Tahuhu 3/15) by 58 runs.
