Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine’s good batting shots were followed by Jess Kerr’s two-wicket-haul as New Zealand defeated India by 18 runs in the one-off T20I at the John Davies Oval in Queenstown on Wednesday. India and New Zealand will now close their horns in a five-game ODI series from Saturday.
After 156, openers Shafali Verma and Yastika Bhatia chased 41 runs for the first wicket, but New Zealand stormed right back into the game when Amelia Kerr knocked out Bhatia (26) and Verma (13) in the seventh over of the innings. Harmanpreet Kaur’s poor form in international cricket continued as she scored just 12 before being bowled by Jess Kerr and India was reduced to 67/3, still needing 89 runs in 55 balls.
Sabbhineni Meghana and Richa Ghosh then got together and the duo revived the innings by crossing boundaries at regular intervals. Both batters had 34 runs, but the partnership was broken by Lea Tahuhu when she repulsed Meghana (37) and India needed 55 runs to win in the last five overs.
India continued to lose wickets at regular intervals and in the end New Zealand recorded an 18-point win.
Previously, Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine played knockouts 36 and 31 to help New Zealand at 155/5 in the allotted twenty overs. The White Ferns, who were sent off as batters, got off to a good start as openers Devine and Bates made 60 runs for the first wicket.
The partnership was eventually broken by Deepti Sharma when she defeated Devine (31). Amelia Kerr (17), Maddy Green (26) and Lea Tahuhu (27) all joined the bat as New Zealand scored over the 150 run.
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In the end, Katey Martin played an unbeaten 9-run knockout from three balls to further improve the White Ferns’ innings. For India, Deepti Sharma returned with two wickets.
Short Scores: New Zealand 155/5 (Suzie Bates 36, Sophie Devine 31; Deepti Sharma 2-26); India 137/8 (Sabbhineni Meghana 37, Yastika Bhatia 26; Jess Kerr 2-20).
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