Batters fail again as Mithali & Co. Slump to 62-run defeat
Recently India skipper Mithali Raj had questioned the concern about strike rate and stressed on the need to 'play according to the situation'. In their second Women's World Cup outing against New Zealand in Hamilton on Thursday, the Indian batters had to knuckle down, rotate the strike and up the strike rate. They failed on all three counts and slumped to a 62-run defeat in a lop-sided contest.
After the hosts put up 260/9 on a batting track, the Indians were barely in the chase and eventually folded up for 198 in 46.4 overs. This left them languishing in the fifth position on the points table which is topped by Australia.
It was one of those days when India were found wanting in strategy and planning. Mithali, who won the toss, opted to chase on a wicket which held no demons. A struggling Shafali Verma was replaced by Yastika Bhatia. The two bright sparks for India were Pooja Vastrakar (4/34) and Harmanpreet Kaur (71, 63b, 6x4, 2x6) but they found little support from their teammates.
Pooja provided the first breakthrough in the third over when her brilliant piece of fielding and direct hit sent back Suzie Bates. But Sophie Devine (35), Amelia Kerr (50), Amy Satterthwaite (75) and Katey Martin (41) made game-changing contributions.
India's sloppy fielding also helped New Zealand's cause. Yastika dropped Kerr, batting on 7, in the 10th over. Pooja and Mithali then dropped Martin and Frances Mackay, allowing the hosts to capitalise on these reprieves. Pooja put the brakes on their scoring and towards the end, New Zealand, who seemed well set to cross the 300-mark, lost five wickets for the addition of 38 runs in the last eight overs.
India were painfully slow off the blocks. Any bid to accelerate the scoring ended in disaster. Opener Smriti Mandhana's attempt to clear the boundary failed and she was caught by Bates at extra cover. With the pressure building, all that the Indian batters had to do was rotate the strike but they didn't. Mithali laboured to a 56-ball 31 before she was stumped off leggie Amelia (3/56). Amelie also accounted for Harmanpreet, who miscued to Devine at long-off. This was in the 44th over and, at 178/6, it was a matter of time before India gave up.
Mithali & co will take on the West Indies next on Saturday.
