The second ODI between India women and New Zealand women left India moving notches up to the second position in the ICC Women’s Championship points table after claiming their second in the bilateral series. India women and New Zealand women both stand at 12 points with India at a higher run rate. The toss at Bay oval was won by Mithali Raj and she decided for her team to bowl first. The 8 wicket win in the second ODI of the 3 match series made India women seal the series on their name. A low target of 162 runs set up by white ferns did not make it difficult for the rivals to win the match before the 37th over itself.
IMPRESSIVE BOWLING ATTACK BY INDIA
As Smriti Mandhana said in the post-match presentation ceremony, the bowlers were the main reason of the win. Jhulan Goswami gave India an amazing start by forcing Suzie Bates to move to the pavilion without scoring a run. Bates was the highest run-scorer for New Zealand women in the first ODI. Shikha Pandey gave India a yet another breakthrough and New Zealand women stood trembling at 11/2 after 6 overs. From there, the spin triad of Deepti Sharma, Ekta Bisht and Poonam Yadav took 2-2 wickets each and kept the opponents under pressure. Captain Amy Satterthwaite was the highest run-scorer for kiwi women with her 71 runs in 87 balls. This is her first half-century against India. Jhulan Goswami picked the last wicket of Lea Tahuhu and New Zealand women were all out for 161 in 44.2 overs.
We took a poll on Twitter and here’s the response we received :
Who would you credit the most for India’s win against New Zealand Women in the 2nd ODI today?#indvsnz #INDWvsNZW
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) January 29, 2019
EARLY TROUBLE FOR INDIA
Realizing the importance of spinners, captain Amy Satterthwaite introduced spin early in the game and Anna Peterson provided a breakthrough and the in-form Jemimah Rodrigues departed for a duck. Deepti Sharma, who became the fastest Indian to achieve the milestone of ODI career double of 50+ wickets and 1000+runs in the first ODI came in to bat at No. 3 and was departed on a short ball for 8 runs.
THE MANDHANA-RAJ PARTNERSHIP’
Mithali Raj came to bat after India was 15/2 in 4.4 overs. With Smriti Mandhana at the other end, she took time to settle. At the end of 10 overs, she had already played 2 maiden overs of her innings and scored her first boundary of the innings at the 64th ball she faced. Mithali Raj has the highest batting average of 111.29 in successful chases in One Day International format leaving behind MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli. She scored her 52nd half-century in 102 balls. The 155 run partnership came after Smriti Mandhana’s 90* in 83 balls and Mithali Raj’s 63* in 111 balls. Mithali Raj’s winning six came in the 36th over and India women won by 8 wickets.
63 in 111 balls for Captain #MithaliRaj that helped India clinch 2-0 in ODI series. #IndWvNZW #indvsnz #India pic.twitter.com/9XP55etTvs
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) January 29, 2019
If Smriti Mandhana would have managed to score a century today, she would have been the first Indian woman to score consecutive centuries. In the presentation ceremony, Smriti Mandhana dedicated her Player of the Match to the bowlers and told that the conditions were more Indian like. She also credited the 10-day camp at Napier before the first ODI which helped the team to acclimatize to the New Zealand conditions. Mithali Raj lauded Smriti Mandhana and mentioned that the team would look forward to a clean sweep in the third ODI.
The last ODI of the series on 1st February will be played at Seddon Park in Hamilton. This will be Mithali Raj’s 200 ODI and New Zealand women would also try their best to elude a clean sweap.