NZ Beat India By 63 Runs In 4th ODI
Queenstown (New Zealand), Feb 22; Indian women suffered a 63-run defeat at the hands of New Zealand in the fourth ODI on Tuesday at the John Davies Oval and trail 0-4 in the five-match series.
The fifth and final game of the series will be held on February 24. Rain played spoilsport on Tuesday, reducing the match to 20 overs per side. Chasing 192, India suffered an early batting collapse and were reduced to 19-4 within five overs.
Richa Ghosh (52 from 29 balls) scored the fastest ever half century by an Indian woman in an ODI. Frances Mackay struck in the very first over and dismissed Shafali Verma for duck. In the next over, Jess Kerr removed Yastika Bhatia for first ball duck. Hayley Jensen removed Pooja Vastrakar cheaply for 5 and Smriti Mandhana at 13. Then, captain Mithali Raj (30) and Ghosh (52) stitched a 77-run partnership for the fifth wicket before Ghosh was sent back by Jensen in the 13th over. Mithali got bowled by Jess. Soon after, India lost four wickets in quick succession for just 23 runs.
For New Zealand, Amelia Kerr and Jensen claimed three wickets each. Jess and Mackay got two wickets apiece. Batting first, Amelia’s unbeaten 68-run knock helped New Zealand post 191 on the board. Skipper Sophie Devine (32) and Suzie Bates (41) got New Zealand off to an excellent start as they scored with ease to take the score to 53/0 in the sixth over. Devine fell to Renuka Singh but Amelia joined Bates and continued to put pressure on the Indian bowlers by finding the boundary with ease. Amy Satterthwaite (32 off 16 balls) got in the act to smash consecutive sixes.
Amelia kept the momentum going as the White Ferns set India a massive target. For India, Renuka claimed two wickets. Gayakwad, Deepti Sharma and Meghana bagged one wicket each.
