New Zealand Crush India by 58 Runs to Open Women’s T20 World Cup with a Statement Victory
New Zealand ended their ten-match losing record in Twenty20 Internationals as they defeated pre-tournament favorites India by 58 runs in a thrilling opening match of the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024.
India was bowled out for a pitiful 102 after failing to keep up with New Zealand’s strong all-around performance, which was highlighted by captain Sophie Devine’s unbeaten 57 and a dominant bowling effort by Rosemary Mair.
Key Performances and Match Results
New Zealand 160 for 4 (Devine 57*, Plimmer 34, Renuka 2-27) beat India 102 (Mair 4-19, Tahuhu 3-15, Carson 2-34) by 58 runs.
Match Analysis
With a decisive 58-run victory over pre-tournament favorites India, New Zealand halted their ten-match losing record in Twenty20 Internationals.
Following a brilliant start from openers Georgia Plimmer and Suzie Bates, Sophie Devine’s undefeated 57 off 36 helped New Zealand post 160 for 4, which proved to be much too much for India.
With Rosemary Mair taking four wickets and Lea Tahuhu taking three, the New Zealand pace attack proved too much for India’s batters to handle. However, legspinner Eden Carson, who removed openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana with a double-blow early on, set everything up.
India, short of batters, found the chase difficult as they lost six wickets for 60 runs and were bowled out for 102 in 19 overs after Harmanpreet Kaur, playing at No. 3 for the first time in eighteen months, fell for a 14-ball 15 inside the powerplay.
India battled their way back into the game in the middle overs after giving up 55 runs in the powerplay, but they were unable to silence Devine. She had batted largely at No. 4, with the exception of two games, between the previous World Cup and this one. She had played at the top of the order from 2017 until the beginning of 2023, in an effort to give the middle order more power.
However, Devine has not been very successful this year, averaging just 21.25 with two half-centuries in nine innings. The captain of New Zealand had also entered the competition with a score of 5, 12, 4, 5. That didn’t matter, though, as Devine lifted New Zealand on Friday by demonstrating her abilities as a big-match player once more.
After seven overs without a boundary, she punished S Asha with two consecutive fours. She danced down the track, smashing one through mid-off and dragging the other away for a deep square-leg off the back foot. She smashed back-to-back fours in the fifteenth over, keeping the scorecard ticking over and matching Renuka Singh’s pace. To reach her 21st T20I fifty, she discovered the extra-cover limit. Along the way, Devine provided New Zealand with a solid finish with a 46-run partnership off 26 balls with Brooke Halliday for the fourth wicket.
Suzie Bates, off Pooja Vastrakar, revealed her intentions right away when she pulled the opening ball of the innings to deep square-leg for four. She also stepped down the track for her second four, a drive past mid-off, on the third ball.
In the third over, Plimmer, who recently scored her first-ever T20I fifty against Australia, also unsettled Deepti Sharma. Among these was a six she threw over a long-on as she down the track. They also profited from India’s careless fielding; in the last over of the powerplay, Richa Ghosh dismissed Bates, who had a top edge to the keeper. With five fours and a six, the pair took the side to 50 runs in 34 balls, ending the powerplay firmly at 55 without losing a wicket and laying the groundwork for a respectable total.
This year, Arundhati Reddy and Asha have both come and gone from India’s XI, but on Friday, they both delivered when given the chance to play on a grand scale. Reddy had conceded 12 runs while bowling the last over of the powerplay.
After then, Asha entered the assault and opened with a boundary-less six runs. Reddy returned for her second, taking out Bates with a slower shot for 27, giving India the much-needed breakthrough. The next over saw Asha chuck one up, forcing the composed Plimmer to come out and heave one into the palms of Smriti Mandhana at long range.
To commemorate the occasion, football player Leandro Trossard broke into a wild celebration. After the powerplay, the two bowled together to slow down New Zealand, giving up only 20 runs off 30 balls from the seventh to the eleventh.
When the fourth umpire intervened, India believed they had run out Amelia Kerr in the 14th over, and the batter believed she was out as well. They made their way towards the dugout. At the time of the dismissal, the umpires had determined that the ball was dead.
When Harmanpreet got hold of the final ball of the over, Kerr and Devine were attempting to smuggle a second off the ball, which appeared to be dead. They shattered the stumps, Kerr came up well short of returning to the striker’s end, Harmanpreet threw, and they sprinted.
The bowler Deepti had requested that her cap be returned by the umpire and had also gone to retrieve it following the first run.
Amol Muzumdar, the India coach, was speaking with the fourth umpire during a brief halt in play. However, it was determined that the ball was out of play and thus the run-out dismissal would not be valid.
For the first time in a T20I, Vastrakar, Renuka, and Reddy were all chosen in the Indian fast bowling XI. An additional seamer was included in place of left-arm spinner Radha Yadav, who is India’s second-best bowler this year in terms of wickets taken. Because to the six-bowler approach, Ghosh and Jemimah Rodrigues were ranked Nos. 4 and 5, respectively, and Harmanpreet was moved up to No. 3. However, on a day when their batting unit faltered, India’s decision to play with one fewer batter did not assist.
India, chasing a competitive 161, lost their first three wickets in the powerplay, and then the middle order crumbled against Tahuhu’s hard lengths until Mair’s swing caused problems for the lower order. Deepti made 13 balls out of 18 and Ghosh used 19 balls to make 12. The highest score was still 15 for Harmanpreet.
