India Women tour of New Zealand 2022 News

Mackay was quick to respond to the situation and threw the ball to the wicket-keeper Katey Martin as Harmanpreet was still far away from the batting crease. She put on the drive at the last moment but even that could not save her as Katey removed the bails in a flash.

India scored their highest ODI total in New Zealand during the third game but faced yet another defeat as Lauren Down's quickfire 52-ball 64* allowed them to recover from a middle-overs struggle and record their second-highest successful chase in ODI history. New Zealand, on the other hand, also clinched the five-match ODI series with two games in hand. Team India looked controlled when New Zealand was at 171 for 6 in the 35th over. However, Down had some other plans when she came to bat. Along with the keeper-batter Katey Martin, she stitched 76 runs off just 69 balls to keep the hosts in the game as well. Martin (35) fell to India spinner Deepti Sharma with a little more than four overs to spare and the equation came down to 18 from 12. But 12 runs conceded in the penultimate over from Jhulan Goswami somehow sealed the game for New Zealand before Down hit Deepti for a straight six to finish off the chase. On the other hand, it was the veteran Goswami who had initially provided India with the breakthroughs. She dismissed Sophie Devine and Suzie Bates in her opening spell where the former was trapped LBW and the latter got bowled as well. Meanwhile, Goswami should have removed Amy Satterthwaite out for a duck but Deepti failed to grab a catch at gully. Later, Satterthwaite and Amelia Kerr steadied the ship by adding 103 runs. Them, Mithali Raj was forced to bring back her spearhead bowler Goswami into the attack, a move that paid off when she dismissed Satterthwaite for 59. From there on, Sneh Rana removed Kerr for 69 before Lea Tahuhu hit a couple of big shots. But, she too couldn’t contribute much and it left the hosts struggling before Down, took the charge. She and Martin started taking on the spin trio of Deepti, Sneh Rana and Ekta Bisht before taking the team to the finish line. Earlier in the game, having been put in to bat, the opening pair of Sabbhineni Meghana and Shafali Varma posted 86 from the first 10 overs, the former smashing a 33-ball half-century. Meghana came in place for Smriti Mandhana, fell for 61 with a total score of 100. Shafali later added a few runs with Yastika Bhatia but failed to contribute much after a 50 as well. India's middle-order once again struggled with the new batters – Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur and the visitors lost the momentum eventually. Soon, Kaur got run-out before Mithali edged a swinger from Hannah Rowe and India slipped to 187 for 5. Deepti, however, tried her best to keep the scoreboard ticking with a knock of 69* and helped to put up a total of 279 as well which proved less as they eventually lost the game. Brief scores: India 279 in 49.3 overs (Deepti 69*, S Meghana 61; Mair 2-43) lost to New Zealand 280/7 in 49.1 overs (Kerr 67, Down 64*, Goswami 3-47) by three wickets.

Former India captain Diana Edulji argued that Indian all-rounder Harmanpreet Kaur should be dropped from the Indian national team. Speaking to news agency PTI, Edulji made it clear that the Indian batter cannot survive in the team based on one innings in the 2017 World Cup. “I am very disappointed with her. She was my favourite player but you can’t survive on that one innings (171 against Australia in 2017). She is only one innings away from a big knock but the effort has to be there. I will be the happiest if she proves me wrong. I just want the team to win the World Cup. Edulji further stated that different players should not have different yardsticks for getting dropped. “If you are going with the same yardstick which was used to drop Jemimah Rodrigues, what the coach (Ramesh Powar) had mentioned, the same yardstick should be applied to Harmanpreet,” Incidentally Harmanpreet Kaur fared very well coming into this series. She scored 310 runs from 13 outings in the competition at an impressive strike rate of 127. However, that form has failed to transpire in India’s World Cup preparation against New Zealand with the batter not passing 15 runs even on one occasion. India will be taking on the White Ferns, early morning on Friday with the goal to save the 5-match ODI series.

India lost back to back games against New Zealand women in their preparatory tour for the 2022 ODI World Cup on Tuesday, 15 February. Down by 0-2 in the 5-match series India will now have to go hammer and tongs against a NZ team that are looking absolutely set at the moment. Despite India putting up a big total against the White Ferns in the first innings, the hosts managed to chase it down with three wickets and one over remaining. India tried their absolute best in this see-saw game and put as much pressure as they could. Not only did India manage to secure three wickets inside the first 10 overs, they removed the big fishes in Suzie Bates and Amy Satterthwaite. However, an off day for part-timer Harmanpreet Kaur and the lack of Jhulan Goswami in the pace department costing them and allowed Amelia Kerr to score a superb hundred to see NZ through. A patient innings that saw seven boundaries saw her hold the innings together from the fifth over till the rest of the innings. Barring Kerr, Maddy Green played a brilliant innings of 52 off 61 balls and secured a partnership of 128 runs off 148 balls to put NZ in a comfortable position. Earlier in the day, the Indian openers started scoring at an excellent rate early in the innings, but two quick strikes of Yastika Bhatiya and opener Sabbhineni Meghana dented their flow of runs. The two players got out close to each other between 21st and 22nd over when India had put on 110 runs after getting a blazing start in the first 10. Their wickets dented the flow of runs and India were stuck between the 21st and the 30th over. Very few runs came owing to Mithali Raj’s inability to shift gears and India were staring at a below par total of 250 runs at that stage. However, the introduction of Richa Ghosh turned fortunes for India and her shot making paved the way for Mithali to get on a counter attack. Both players stitched a partnership of 108 off 107 balls and left the White Ferns clueless. Raj stayed on till the final ball scoring 66 off 81 while Richa was dismissed after a whirlwind innings of 65 off 64 balls. India managed to post 270, but at the end it was not enough. Amelia Kerr was announced the player of the match for her superb century.

Commentator and Journalist Isabelle Westbury and Indian batter VR Vanitha were involved in a war of words after Isabelle took a dig at the Indian skipper, following the side's defeat in the second ODI against New Zealand in Queenstown. “Mithali Raj is both the best and worst thing about Indian cricket right now," Isabelle wrote on Twitter. “There is only the ‘BEST’ to it. Rather than worrying so much about Indian cricket, it will do you a world of good to worry about England. They were drubbed by the Aussies," Vanitha replied. Isabelle further added that she has all the right to have an opinion. She said: “Cool cool, I disagree. Surely that’s okay? Imo Mithali’s both one of best to have played but wholly unsuited to India’s progression. And I am surely allowed to hold that opinion? “And yes, believe me, I worry a lot about England. My most recent words on the subject, I believe.” Vanitha then pointed out how many international games had Isabelle played. She said: “Sorry just asking how many international games have you played? Didn’t find your stats on Wikipedia. You still haven’t got rid of your colonial mindset telling India what to do. Get yourself together Brit!!” Taling about the match, India had compiled a total of 270/6 in 50 overs after Mithali scored yet another fifty for the side. But courtesy, Amelia Kerr's unbeaten hundred, the New Zealand team chased down the target by 3 wickets and with one over to spare.

Star batter Suzie Bates’ shouldered the responsibility alongside Amy Satterthwaite and the duo helped their side cross the 270-run mark on a tricky surface at John Davies Oval, Queenstown. Pacer Jess Kerr ran the show with the ball in hand and bagged four crucial wickets to bowl out India for 213.