India Lose to New Zealand In Womens World Cup: The Indian Womens Cricket Team kicked off their campaign for the Indian Womens Cricket Team in the worst way possible, losing to New Zealand by 58 runs in their opening game.
India Lose to New Zealand In Womens World Cup
Match Four of the World Cup was being played in the Dubai International Stadium, and the Kiwis won the toss and decided to bat first. And that decision looked like the correct one, as openers Suzie Bates and Georgia Plimmer gave their side a solid start, scoring at almost 10 runs per over in the powerplay.
It was in the eighth over when Bates lost her wicket, with the score being 67/1. Plimmer was dismissed in the very next over, with both openers getting out in quick succession.
New Zealand then struggled for the next six overs. From the ninth over to the 15th, Amelia Kerr and captain Sophie Devine partnered up to score just 30 odd runs.
Controversy arose on the final ball of the 14th over. Kerr hit the ball towards Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur at long-off and took a run. After that, the umpire handed bowler Deepti Sharma her cap back to signify the end of the over. But the New Zealand batters didn’t take the signal and ran for a second run. Seeing that, Kaur threw the ball to the far end and ran Amelia out. But because the umpire had already declared the end of the over, she was declared not out.
This did not matter much, as in the next over, Amelia Kerr was caught out. But skipper Devine ramped up the scoring rate in the final few overs, first taking her team past the 150-run mark and then getting her team to 160/4 at the end of 20 overs, scoring a fine 50 in the process.
With the pitch being a little sticky, it was not going to be an easy run chase. But India needed to keep their wickets in hand, and runs would come from their star-studded batting order. This did not happen, however, as opener Shafali Verma was caught and bowled in the second over itself.
Then, in the fifth over, star batter Smriti Mandhana was dismissed as well. At this point, India’s score was 28/2, and the team desperately needed to save their wickets. But before the end of the powerplay, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur’s leg was caught before the wicket as the Women in Blue lost their third wicket for 42.
From this point onwards, India lost wickets consistently. Jemimah Rodriguez was out in the ninth over, Richa Ghosh in the 11th, and Arundhati Reddy in the 13th. India’s batting ended with the dismissal of Deepti Sharma in the 15th over as the score was 88/7.
From here, it was obvious that the match had spilt out of the Indian Womens Cricket Team’s hands. The team was all out for 102 in the 19th over, a whopping 58-run defeat to kick the tournament off.
This has made it extremely difficult for India to reach the semifinals. The team is in a tough Group A alongside New Zealand, defending Asia Cup winners Sri Lanka, arch-rivals Pakistan, and defending World Cup winners Australia. Only two teams from this group will make it to the semis.
India’s next match in this tournament is against Pakistan on October 6 in Dubai.
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