Women’s T20 WC: Devine, Mair & Tahuhu star as New Zealand hand India 58-run hammering

Dubai: Coming into the Women’s T20 World Cup, New Zealand had lost 10 T20Is in a row. But when it mattered the most, they rose to be top-class in all departments to hammer a listless India by 58 runs in a Group A match of the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup at the Dubai International Stadium here on Friday.

After Suzie Bates and Georgia Plimmer gave New Zealand a brilliant start through a 67-run partnership for the opening wicket, captain Sophie Devine applied strong finishing touches by hitting seven boundaries – mixed with sheer power and good placement in her unbeaten 36-ball 57 at a strike-rate of 158.33 – as they posted 160/4 on a sticky pitch.

Chasing 161, which would have been India’s most successful chase in the tournament’s history, Harmanpreet Kaur’s team never got going and fell like nine pins to be bowled out for 102 in 19 overs. No batter went past 15 in an insipid performance as Rosemary Mair took 4-19, while Lea Tahuhu picked 3-15 and Eden Carson broke the game open by getting the Indian openers inside the first four overs.

The big margin of defeat serves as a serious blow to India’s hopes of reaching the semifinals. India suffered an early setback in the chase as Shafali Verma went for a flick off Eden, but got a leading edge to give the spinner an easy return catch. Smriti Mandhana was next to fall in the fourth over – dancing down the pitch to go big, but holed out to long-off to become Eden’s second wicket.

Rosemary Mair found some good swing and was rewarded for it when her sharp inswinger trapped India’s new number three batter Harmanpreet Kaur lbw for 15. With New Zealand keeping things tight, Jemimah Rodrigues fell in a bid to break the shackles – chipping to mid-on off an outside off delivery from Lea Tahuhu.

India’s slide continued when Richa tried to close her bat-face early, but got a leading edge and was caught by mid-off on a slower ball from Lea. From there, the result was a foregone conclusion, as the rest of the batters fell without doing much to reduce the margin of defeat in a comprehensive hammering for India, as the White Ferns shined bright at the Ring of Fire in Dubai’s cool evening.

Previously, New Zealand’s opening pair of Suzie and Georgia were positive in their approach – walking down the pitch and piercing gaps to find boundaries and partly helped by India’s misfields. While Suzie took two fours off Pooja Vastrakar, Georgia smacked a four and six off Deepti Sharma.

Georgia took two boundaries off Arundhati Reddy in the final over of Power-play, while Suzie survived on 18 when Richa Ghosh couldn’t hold on to the top edge off her bat, as New Zealand ended the Power-play at 55/0. The superb 67-run opening stand ended when Suzie didn’t time her slog off Arundhati and found deep mid-wicket.

One brought two for India as Georgia came down the pitch to loft Asha Sobhana, but holed out to long-on. Sophie began her superb knock by hitting consecutive fours off Asha’s short deliveries, even as Amelia Kerr wasn’t in her usual groove.

On the last ball of the 14th over, Amelia got a reprieve when her run-out at the striker’s end was deemed a dead ball by on-field umpires, with Harmanpreet, Smriti Mandhana and Amol Muzumdar having lengthy discussions with them and the fourth umpire. Replays showed Amelia was run out while attempting a second run, just after the umpire returned Deepti her cap at the non-striker’s end.

But in the next over, Amelia went for a cut off Renuka Singh Thakur and picked out a diving extra cover. Sophie continued to find boundaries with ease – a straight drive and cut of Renuka got her back-to-back fours, followed by going deep in the crease to pull Shreyanka for another boundary.

Brooke Halliday was inventive in getting a brace of fours via reverse sweep and sweep before giving a catch to extra cover off Renuka. Sophie gave New Zealand a strong finish with a pull off Deepti for four, followed by getting her fifty with a carve over mid-off against Shreyanka fetching her another boundary.

India was forced to have only three fielders outside the 25-yard circle due to an over-rate penalty in the last over also worked in New Zealand’s favour as 21 runs came off the last two overs, which was enough for them to be too good for India.

Brief scores:

New Zealand 160/4 in 20 overs (Sophie Devine 57 not out, Georgia Plimmer 34; Renuka Singh Thakur 2-27) beat India 102 all out in 19 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 15; Rosemary Mair 4-19, Lea Tahuhu 3-15) by 58 runs

–IANS