WWC 2017, IND v NZL, Review: India march into the semifinals in style

Team India annihilated the Kiwis in the virtual quarter-final by 186 runs and entered the knockout stages of the tournament in emphatic style. A mind boggling ton from skipper Mithali Raj (109 off 123 balls) was backed up by Rajeshwari Gayakwad’s 5-fer and India attained those 2 crucial points, which now sets them at the 3rd position in the ladder.

Both the Indian openers Smriti Mandhana and Punam Raut failed to get a good start after New Zealand had won the toss and asked India to bat first. Nevertheless, a fantastic partnership for the third wicket between Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur pulled things back in India’s favour.

Mithali was looking terrific in the middle and she terrorised the fielders on the offside with some splendid drives and cuts. Harmanpreet on the other end started off slow but she picked up some pace as the innings unfolded. New Zealand slowly started to lose control over the brilliant start they got and India had reached 100 for the loss of 2 wickets in 28 overs.

In the 28th over, Mithali reached her fifty and Harmanpreet who had been struggling for runs in this World Cup, piled up a 50 when it mattered the most. The Indian eves had wickets in hand, but they were moving relatively slower and in an attempt to up the ante, the Indian keeper lost her wicket and when she departed for 60 off 90 balls, Deepti Sharma walked in with 15 overs remaining. The youngster who had an amazing tournament failed to do anything spectacular and was dismissed for a duck.

The Veda-Mithali show that set the tone

It was Veda Krishnamurthy (70 off 45 balls), who helped India get to an over-par total at the end of 50 overs as she played one of the knocks of the tournament under intense pressure. The last ten overs was an absolute delight for the Indian fans as Veda and Mithali just clobbered the Kiwi bowlers to all parts of the Derby.

Veda notched almost 2 boundaries off every over in the final 10 and there was absolutely no one stopping her. Mithali too kept striking the ball hard and eventually, she brought up her 6th ODI century. The duo had stitched 100 runs together in just 74 balls and as the innings was coming to a close, Mithali miscued one straight down to deep mid-wicket and departed.

The final over of the innings saw India lose three wickets, but the damage was already done and they ended their innings with 265 runs on the board. Leigh Kasperek was the pick of the Kiwi bowlers as she ended with figures of 3/45.

Bang on target!

The Indian bowlers were bang on target right from the outset and there was no way Suzie Bates and her troops could settle in. Shikha Pandey provided the first breakthrough in the second over by removing the dangerous Bates and Jhulan Goswami sent the other opener Rachel Priest back in the hunt after a couple of overs.

Katey Martin and Amy Satterthwaite some how got through the power play phase but the former’s desperation to get quick runs saw her present her wicket to Deepti Sharma. New Zealand were 3 down for 27 and though Satterthwaite and Katie Perkins stood in the middle for some time, the Indian bowlers just rolled through their line up.

The star of the day Rajeshwari Gayakwad didn’t get any wickets in her first 3 overs, but once she picked up Satterthwaite’s wicket in her fourth, she started breathing fire. Deepti immediately sent back Katie Perkins and it was all about Rajeshwari from then on.

Sophie Devine and Hannah Rowe were Rajeshwari’s next two victims and they were tumbling all apart at 62/7 in 22 overs. It was just a formality for the Indians after that as Poonam Yadav picked the 8th wicket, after which Rajeshwari cleaned up the final two and finished the innings with an astonishing 5-fer. New Zealand were bowled out for a paltry 79 and in the process, their dreams of making it to the semifinals were shattered as well.

Brief Scores

India: 265/7 in 50 overs (Mithali Raj 109, Harmanpreet Kaur 60, Veda Krishnamurthy 70)

New Zealand: 79 all out in 25.3 overs (Satterthwaite 26; Rajeshwari 5/15, Deepti Sharma 2/25)