Indian women seal the series with a crushing 8-wicket win over New Zealand in 2nd ODI
Another dominating performance by Indian women’s team helped them to seal the series with a crushing 8-wicket win over hosts New Zealand in the ICC World Championship ODI tournament played at Mount Maunganui on Tuesday. After deciding to field, the Indian bowlers restricted hosts New Zealand to a low total and then chased down the target with ease.
Indian captain Mithali Raj won the toss again and decided to field first. It was a great start by Jhulan Goswami, dismissing Suzie Bates for 0 in the very first over itself. Shikha Pandey got the big wicket of Sophie Devine to put the White Ferns under pressure at 8 for 2. The Indian bowlers kept the pressure on the opposition. At end of 10 overs, New Zealand were 24 for 2.
The Indian bowlers continued to take wickets at regular intervals. New Zealand captain Amy Satterthwaite and Kasperek tried to steady the innings with a 58-run partnership for the 6th wicket. Satterthwaite reached her fifty off 71 balls. Poonam Yadav struck to dismiss New Zealand captain Satterthwaite for 71. Indian eves bowled out New Zealand for just 161 runs in 44.2 overs. For India, Jhulan Goswami took 3 for 23 in 8.2 overs, while Poonam Yadav, Deepti Sharma and Ekta Bisht took 2 wickets each.
Chasing the target of 165 runs to win, India got off to a poor start, losing an early wicket of Jemimah Rodrigues for 0. Deepti Sharma could not contribute many runs as she was dismissed for 8 runs. Indian captain Mithali Raj and Smriti Mandhana steadied the ship by scoring 29 for 2 at end of 10 overs.
Smriti Mandhana continued her sensational form and made batting look easy. Indian captain Mithali Raj took time. Mandhana reached her fifty off 54 balls while Mithali Raj reached her fifty off 102 balls. After settling in, Mithali Raj took on New Zealand bowlers. Smriti Mandhana and Mithali Raj's unbeaten partnership of 151 runs helped Indian women beat New Zealand by 8 wickets with 88 balls to spare.
Score: Indian women 166 for 2 in 35.2 overs (Smriti Mandhana 90*, Mithali Raj 63*, Lea Tahuhu 1/16, Anna Peterson 1/26) beat New Zealand 161 in 44.2 overs (Amy Satterthwaite 71, Leigh Kasperek 21, Jhulan Goswami 3/23, Ekta Bisht 2/14) by 8 wickets.
With this win, Indian women seal the series in the 3-match ODI series. The third and final ODI will be played on 1st February at Hamilton.