Indian women's historic win in New Zealand
In the second one-day international match at the Bay Oval ground, Indian women players made history by defeating New Zealand by eight wickets. This is India's first ODI series win against New Zealand in their backyard.
In 2005/06 ODI series, Indian Women's went down 4-1, while in a one-off ODI match in 1994-95, the women in blue won by 2 wickets (with 10 balls remaining) but, that was rather a one-off match than an ODI series hence, this is Indian women's maiden ODI series win in New Zealand.
Earlier, in the first one-day match played at Napier, Team India had defeated New Zealand by nine wickets. In the second ODI on Tuesday, India won the toss and invited New Zealand to bat first. New Zealand captain Amy Slaithwaite scored a half-century (71) which gave the visitors a target of 162 runs.
Jhulan Goswami took three wickets while, Ekta Bisht, Deepti Sharma, Poonam Yadav took two wickets each, Shikha Pandey got one wicket.
Team India's start to the chase was not good. On the second ball of the second over, J Rodriguez returned to the pavilion as India's first wicket. Rodriguez was caught by Amelia Carr off Ana Pietersen's bowling.
After this, Deepti Sharma (8) also caught out by Bernadine, standing behind the wickets, off Tahuhu. Team India lost two quick wickets at a score of 15. After the departure of Deepti, the team's most experienced batsman and captain Mithali Raj handled the innings.
Mithali (62) and Mandhana (90) together made a spectacular century partnership of 151 runs. Both of them reached the target in 35.2 overs without being dismissed and won the match for India by eight wickets. Mandhana hit 13 fours and a six on 83 balls, while Mithali hit four fours and two sixes in 111 balls. Smriti was declared the Player of the Match.
India now has an unbeatable lead of 2-0 in the ODI series against New Zealand. The third and final match between the two teams will be played in Hamilton on 1 February.