It was once again the hosts New Zealand who trampled India with a 62 run win in the ICC Women’s World Cup.
India won the toss and chose to field first in Hamilton against New Zealand.
Amelia Kerr and Amy Satterthwaite scored half-centuries in the match and other batters too chipped in with small contributions.
The Indian bowling department was on fire today with Pooja Vastrakar recording her best figures in women’s cricket with 4/34 in her 10 overs.
This is New Zealand’s second win on the trot in the World Cup.
Deepti Sharma and Rajeshwari Gayakwad also took wickets in between that stumbled New Zealand a bit but they finally managed to reach the score of 260/9 in their 50 overs.
India, in the second innings, had to chase down 261.
But it became difficult for the Indian batters to rotate strike even though it was mostly left-handers in the team today.
India were able to manage only 26/2 in their Powerplay overs as Tahuhu and Jess Kerr kept tight control on the runs.
Mithali Raj and Yastika Bhatia were unable to play any shots of the New Zealand bowlers and this resulted in two maiden overs for India.
Mithali got stumped while Richa Ghosh was out first ball.
Lastly, it was India’s vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur who gave a strong fight to the New Zealand bowlers as she made 71 but by that time, the asking rate had climbed up rapidly and 110 was still required in the last eight overs.
It was a tall ask for India as they were all out for 198 in 46.4 overs and suffered their first defeat of the tournament.
India will now have to step up in the next game against West Indies.
