Match Report | New Zealand vs India | 3rd ODI | New Zealand flexed some serious batting muscle to seal the deal
Written By: Ritwika Dhar
Date: 20-02-2022
Picture Courtesy: Getty Images
After losing the first two ODIs, it was a do-or-die game for India. New Zealand won the toss and elected to bowl first on a wicket which has been a batting paradise so far. Both the teams have tried various sorts of combinations. To give game time to all the players before heading into the all-important world cup, both the teams came up with a good number of changes.
India made 4 changes – Sneh Rana, Renuka Singh Thakur, Ekta Bisht, and Jhulan Goswami came in place of Pooja Vastrakar, Simran Dil Bahadur, Poonam Yadav, and Rajeshwari Gayakwad. Meghna Singh and Smriti Mandhana are out of MIQ, but due to some rules and regulations, they couldn’t be included. Renuka who was also in MIQ, came out a day before them and was able to make her debut in the ODI side yesterday. Whereas New Zealand rested Brooke Halliday, Jess Kerr, Hayley Jensen, Fran Jonas, and brought in Lauren Down, Lea Tahuhu, Hannah Rowe, and Frances Mackay.
India couldn’t capitalize on the flying start given by the openers
S. Meghana has been impressive with the bat in this tour. She scored 49 runs in the last ODI and started this innings from where she left it. The 1st over started and ended with a boundary. India were off to a flying start of 50 runs in just 6.4 overs, courtesy of some unreal hitting from Meghana. On the other side, her partner young Shafali was showcasing some of her beautiful wristy game. It was raining boundaries from both ends.
This wayward bowling affected the Kiwis fielding too at the initial stage. Hannah Rowe put down Meghana at mid-on in Devine’s bowling. But Meghana pounced on this missed chance. She pulled away a short ball over mid-wicket and the ball raced away to the ropes to bring her maiden int’l 50. In the 13th over, India reached 100 run-mark and lost Meghana as well on 61 (41). Rosemary Mair brought an end to this magnificent knock with a short ball and the extra bounce is what Meghana couldn’t control while throwing the bat towards it.
Shafali continued to guide India accompanying Yastika. She completed a composed half-century, 2nd in ODIs. But Amelia Kerr’s loopy delivery couldn’t be lofted over the covers by Verma and Bates took a sharp catch. India were 131-2 and needed to weave another big partnership. The Indian skipper came into bat and the intention was clear. She attempted a sweep shot only in the 2nd ball of her innings. But Mair again plucked a wicket with her short ball. This time it was Yastika who went for the hook shot under no control and Tahuhu underneath it made no mistake.
It was going to be one of the important innings for Harmanpreet. And she was showing her colours with dancing down the track and tonked a lofted shot for 4. But Frances Mackay who got the opportunity for the 1st time in this series pulled off a stunning run-out. But this proactiveness is one of the peculiarities of her bowling and India or Harman was certainly not aware of it. She again came down the track. But it went to the bowler and threw a sharp catch to keeper Martin who took off the bails before Harman came back to the crease. With this bamboozling run-out, Indian innings also seemed derailed. India had no Richa or Pooja in this match who are India’s designated finishers. But India still had 22 overs to bat and Deepti Sharma had a huge task on her hands.
After scoring back-to-back half-centuries, Mithali Raj was also sent back to the pavilion by Rowe. She made a good comeback in her 2nd spell and took some spectacular catches after dropping some costly ones at the beginning. Sneh Rana and Taniya Bhatia made a few partnerships with Deepti, but their short stays took away the hope of putting 290-300 on the board. Deepti was the mainstay in the lower order and went on to score a brilliant 69 off 69. But New Zealand were able to clean up the Indian tail with 3 balls remaining in the innings. India ended up on 279 runs. They added 10 more runs to their previous highest score against NZ achieved in the last game.
Partnerships, batting depth flexed muscles in the Kiwi win
With the batting depth New Zealand have, the only way India could win the match was by taking all 10 wickets. And Jhulan Goswami started exactly the way India needed. She dismissed both the openers Devine and Bates with two extraordinary deliveries in her first two overs. But then Kerr and Satterthwaite again went on to put a hundred-run partnership for the 3rd wicket courtesy of India's poor fielding, the ineffectiveness of the spinners, and defensive field placements. And yet, it was Goswami who came and gave the breakthrough of Satterthwaite (59 off 76) in the 24th over.
Spinners also joined the party. Debutant Renuka got the wicket of Maddy Green. Whereas Sneh Rana and Ekta Bight who made a comeback in the XI after quite a long time took the wickets of Kerr and Tahuhu respectively. When New Zealand were reduced to 171 for 6 and India were smelling a victory, Lauren Down and Katey Martin had other plans. They put up a partnership of 76 off 69. Martin. In the last match where captain Raj gave only 10 overs to the pacers, kept 2 overs of Goswami in the death overs in this match. Goswami who is very disciplined in her line and length, somehow misses the modern-day variations at the death and is very persistent with yorkers which becomes a full-toss delivery. Also, Kiwi batters pushed the Indian fielders and snatched easy singles and doubles. Deepti broke their partnership by dismissing Martin. But Mackay came and kept the flow of run the same.
It all came down to the last over where White Ferns needed 6 runs in 6 balls to win. Down, without creating any suspense struck the 1st ball down the ground for six and registered a historic and confidence-boosting match and series victory. She is a top-order bat, but she embraced this new role to bat at no. 6 by her team and heroed the win with her 64*.
Positives and negatives for team India
- 2 consecutive 260+ scores without Smriti Mandhana, out of Harmanpreet is a big plus point for this team. In this match especially, three Indian batters scored 50+ scores without Mithali Raj. Young batters like Richa, Yastika, Shafali, Meghana, Deepti stood up on various occasions to take their team out of trouble.
- But India also have not been able to defend totals like 270+. Not in every match batters will be this successful and good bowling can win you tournaments more than batting.
- India’s fielding letting them down big time in every match. From catching fielding to ground fielding, both have been under-par. They let the batters pick easily singles which allows them every new batter who comes on the crease to settle down and form one partnership after the other.
- Over-dependency on Jhulan Goswami. She seemed the only wicket-taker in the bowling line-up, especially in the fast-bowling attack.
- Spinners have been very costly with the ball. Apart from Deepti, no other spinner much seemed disciplined and wicket-taking.
- Harman’s lack of form is a concern not in this series only, but from the last few years. She takes her time at the start and if she doesn’t covert those starts into big ones after taking 20-30 balls initially, it takes away the momentum as well as puts the team in the hole. If we just take yesterday’s game as an example, amongst all the partnerships India had, the Kaur-Raj partnership was the slowest one- 19 off 32 balls where she took 21 balls to score her 13 runs.A match-winner like her coming back to the form can change the fortune for India.
- India haven't fielded their full-strength XI yet and still shaping this young group up well. Many of them never toured New Zealand and made their debut last year or in this series only. So, given the lack of experience, coming through several quarantines, lack of match practice, and playing against a well-oiled machine like the Kiwis who just finished their month-long domestic season, India's performance reflects plenty of positives despite the negatives.
- Before the world cup, as a touring team, India are getting 6 matches to acclimatize with the conditions than any other team. So, the way India have lost this series with 2 games remaining, it's a moment of truth for the team, but more of a blessing in disguise that India are getting the time to ponder on their issues in this series only.
Brief Scorecard:
India – 270/6 (50) M. Raj 66 (81), R. Ghosh 65 (64); S. Devine 2/42 (8), A. Kerr 1/43 (8)
New Zealand – 273/7 (49) A. Kerr 119* (135), M. Green 52 (61); D. Sharma 4/52 (10), P. Yadav 1/41 (10)
Match Report | New Zealand vs India | 3rd ODI | New Zealand flexed some serious batting muscle to seal the deal
Written By: Ritwika Dhar
Date: 20-02-2022
Picture Courtesy: Getty Images
After losing the first two ODIs, it was a do-or-die game for India. New Zealand won the toss and elected to bowl first on a wicket which has been a batting paradise so far. Both the teams have tried various sorts of combinations. To give game time to all the players before heading into the all-important world cup, both the teams came up with a good number of changes.
India made 4 changes – Sneh Rana, Renuka Singh Thakur, Ekta Bisht, and Jhulan Goswami came in place of Pooja Vastrakar, Simran Dil Bahadur, Poonam Yadav, and Rajeshwari Gayakwad. Meghna Singh and Smriti Mandhana are out of MIQ, but due to some rules and regulations, they couldn’t be included. Renuka who was also in MIQ, came out a day before them and was able to make her debut in the ODI side yesterday. Whereas New Zealand rested Brooke Halliday, Jess Kerr, Hayley Jensen, Fran Jonas, and brought in Lauren Down, Lea Tahuhu, Hannah Rowe, and Frances Mackay.
India couldn’t capitalize on the flying start given by the openers
S. Meghana has been impressive with the bat in this tour. She scored 49 runs in the last ODI and started this innings from where she left it. The 1st over started and ended with a boundary. India were off to a flying start of 50 runs in just 6.4 overs, courtesy of some unreal hitting from Meghana. On the other side, her partner young Shafali was showcasing some of her beautiful wristy game. It was raining boundaries from both ends.
This wayward bowling affected the Kiwis fielding too at the initial stage. Hannah Rowe put down Meghana at mid-on in Devine’s bowling. But Meghana pounced on this missed chance. She pulled away a short ball over mid-wicket and the ball raced away to the ropes to bring her maiden int’l 50. In the 13th over, India reached 100 run-mark and lost Meghana as well on 61 (41). Rosemary Mair brought an end to this magnificent knock with a short ball and the extra bounce is what Meghana couldn’t control while throwing the bat towards it.
Shafali continued to guide India accompanying Yastika. She completed a composed half-century, 2nd in ODIs. But Amelia Kerr’s loopy delivery couldn’t be lofted over the covers by Verma and Bates took a sharp catch. India were 131-2 and needed to weave another big partnership. The Indian skipper came into bat and the intention was clear. She attempted a sweep shot only in the 2nd ball of her innings. But Mair again plucked a wicket with her short ball. This time it was Yastika who went for the hook shot under no control and Tahuhu underneath it made no mistake.
It was going to be one of the important innings for Harmanpreet. And she was showing her colours with dancing down the track and tonked a lofted shot for 4. But Frances Mackay who got the opportunity for the 1st time in this series pulled off a stunning run-out. But this proactiveness is one of the peculiarities of her bowling and India or Harman was certainly not aware of it. She again came down the track. But it went to the bowler and threw a sharp catch to keeper Martin who took off the bails before Harman came back to the crease. With this bamboozling run-out, Indian innings also seemed derailed. India had no Richa or Pooja in this match who are India’s designated finishers. But India still had 22 overs to bat and Deepti Sharma had a huge task on her hands.
After scoring back-to-back half-centuries, Mithali Raj was also sent back to the pavilion by Rowe. She made a good comeback in her 2nd spell and took some spectacular catches after dropping some costly ones at the beginning. Sneh Rana and Taniya Bhatia made a few partnerships with Deepti, but their short stays took away the hope of putting 290-300 on the board. Deepti was the mainstay in the lower order and went on to score a brilliant 69 off 69. But New Zealand were able to clean up the Indian tail with 3 balls remaining in the innings. India ended up on 279 runs. They added 10 more runs to their previous highest score against NZ achieved in the last game.
Partnerships, batting depth flexed muscles in the Kiwi win
With the batting depth New Zealand have, the only way India could win the match was by taking all 10 wickets. And Jhulan Goswami started exactly the way India needed. She dismissed both the openers Devine and Bates with two extraordinary deliveries in her first two overs. But then Kerr and Satterthwaite again went on to put a hundred-run partnership for the 3rd wicket courtesy of India's poor fielding, the ineffectiveness of the spinners, and defensive field placements. And yet, it was Goswami who came and gave the breakthrough of Satterthwaite (59 off 76) in the 24th over.
Spinners also joined the party. Debutant Renuka got the wicket of Maddy Green. Whereas Sneh Rana and Ekta Bight who made a comeback in the XI after quite a long time took the wickets of Kerr and Tahuhu respectively. When New Zealand were reduced to 171 for 6 and India were smelling a victory, Lauren Down and Katey Martin had other plans. They put up a partnership of 76 off 69. Martin. In the last match where captain Raj gave only 10 overs to the pacers, kept 2 overs of Goswami in the death overs in this match. Goswami who is very disciplined in her line and length, somehow misses the modern-day variations at the death and is very persistent with yorkers which becomes a full-toss delivery. Also, Kiwi batters pushed the Indian fielders and snatched easy singles and doubles. Deepti broke their partnership by dismissing Martin. But Mackay came and kept the flow of run the same.
It all came down to the last over where White Ferns needed 6 runs in 6 balls to win. Down, without creating any suspense struck the 1st ball down the ground for six and registered a historic and confidence-boosting match and series victory. She is a top-order bat, but she embraced this new role to bat at no. 6 by her team and heroed the win with her 64*.
Positives and negatives for team India
- 2 consecutive 260+ scores without Smriti Mandhana, out of Harmanpreet is a big plus point for this team. In this match especially, three Indian batters scored 50+ scores without Mithali Raj. Young batters like Richa, Yastika, Shafali, Meghana, Deepti stood up on various occasions to take their team out of trouble.
- But India also have not been able to defend totals like 270+. Not in every match batters will be this successful and good bowling can win you tournaments more than batting.
- India’s fielding letting them down big time in every match. From catching fielding to ground fielding, both have been under-par. They let the batters pick easily singles which allows them every new batter who comes on the crease to settle down and form one partnership after the other.
- Over-dependency on Jhulan Goswami. She seemed the only wicket-taker in the bowling line-up, especially in the fast-bowling attack.
- Spinners have been very costly with the ball. Apart from Deepti, no other spinner much seemed disciplined and wicket-taking.
- Harman’s lack of form is a concern not in this series only, but from the last few years. She takes her time at the start and if she doesn’t covert those starts into big ones after taking 20-30 balls initially, it takes away the momentum as well as puts the team in the hole. If we just take yesterday’s game as an example, amongst all the partnerships India had, the Kaur-Raj partnership was the slowest one- 19 off 32 balls where she took 21 balls to score her 13 runs.A match-winner like her coming back to the form can change the fortune for India.
- India haven't fielded their full-strength XI yet and still shaping this young group up well. Many of them never toured New Zealand and made their debut last year or in this series only. So, given the lack of experience, coming through several quarantines, lack of match practice, and playing against a well-oiled machine like the Kiwis who just finished their month-long domestic season, India's performance reflects plenty of positives despite the negatives.
- Before the world cup, as a touring team, India are getting 6 matches to acclimatize with the conditions than any other team. So, the way India have lost this series with 2 games remaining, it's a moment of truth for the team, but more of a blessing in disguise that India are getting the time to ponder on their issues in this series only.
Brief Scorecard:
India – 270/6 (50) M. Raj 66 (81), R. Ghosh 65 (64); S. Devine 2/42 (8), A. Kerr 1/43 (8)
New Zealand – 273/7 (49) A. Kerr 119* (135), M. Green 52 (61); D. Sharma 4/52 (10), P. Yadav 1/41 (10)