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NZ demolish India, Shastri's masterplan for Kohli in World Cup and more - Cricket News Today, 6th February 2019

There are plenty of top developments in Cricket News Today - our special compilation of all interesting happenings of the day in the sport.

On Waitangi Day (New Zealand's National Day), New Zealand women's and men's teams cruised to dominant T20I victories against India women's and men's teams respectively at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington.

In other significant news, head coach Ravi Shastri has revealed a special plan regarding skipper Virat Kohli's possible batting position in the 2019 World Cup.

Here are all of today's top developments from the day.


Mithali Raj dropped from playing XI; India women go down by 23 runs

Mithali Raj was once again left out of the T20I lineup
Mithali Raj was once again left out of the T20I lineup

Following her unceremonious ouster from the playing XI during the Women's World T20 late last year, India women's ODI captain Mithali Raj was once again dropped from the lineup as the T20I team took the field at Wellington.

However, the bold move did not quite work in India's favour as they went down by 23 runs in the first T20I against New Zealand women at the Westpac Stadium.

Choosing to bowl first, India women conceded 159 to a strong New Zealand lineup. Although Smriti Mandhana's record fifty gave them a solid start to the run-chase, the visitors suffered a middle-order collapse and ended up getting bowled out for 136.

At the end of the match, T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur explained Mithali Raj's exclusion by insisting, "Well, we are just looking to give chance to young girls. We only have these three overseas games and after that we are playing in more Indian conditions and I think that's the only reason we're giving chances to the young girls."

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