India women crush New Zealand women by 9 wickets in opening ODI

Indian women’s cricket team produced a dominant display against New Zealand women by 9 wickets in the first One-day International of the 3-match series at the McLean Park in Napier on Thursday.

It was a superb bowling performance by the Indian players who restricted the hosts to a modest total before chasing down the target with utmost ease.

Captain Mithali Raj won the toss and inserted New Zealand to bat. Sophie Devine and Suzie Bates got the team off a decent start by scoring 44 runs during in the first 10 overs. A brilliant run out by Deepti Sharma to dismiss Devine for 28 ended the 61-run stand for the opening wicket.

It was a disciplined bowling effort by the Indian spinners who restricted the flow of runs and also picked wickets at regular intervals. Amy Satterthwaite and Amelia Kerr added 49 runs for the 4th wicket.

Poonam Yadav and Ekta Bisht strangled the New Zealand batters with some tight lines. Hannah Rowe and Holly Huddleston added 26 runs for the 9th wicket. India bowled out New Zealand for 192 runs in 48.4 overs.

Chasing the target of 193 runs to win, Indian openers Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues got the team off to a flying start as both of them put on 53 runs in the first 10 overs.

Mandhana made batting look easy and reached her fifty off 43 balls while Rodrigues completed her fifty off 61 balls.

Both Indian openers played with positive intent and duly put the bad balls away for boundaries. Mandhana reached her century off 101 balls. While trying to finish with a six, she was caught for 105 off 104 balls. However, India won the match by 9 wickets with 102 balls to spare.

The second match of ODI series will be played on 29th January at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui.

Brief Scores: India women - 193/1 in 33 overs (Smriti Mandhana 105, Jemimah Rodrigues 81*, Amelia Kerr 1/33) beat New Zealand women - 192 all out in 48.4 overs (Suzie Bates 36, Amy Satterthwaite 31, Ekta Bisht 3/32, Poonam Yadav 3/42) by 9 wickets