Women manage 13, lose by 2, get whitewashed 3-0

Hamilton, February 10 

The Indian women’s team almost pulled off a dramatic win but failed to score a boundary on the last ball of the 20th over to lose the third T20I against New Zealand by two runs. Chasing 162 for a win, Smriti Mandhana hit a career-best knock of 86 off 52 balls but the visiting side failed to build on her scintillating knock to end their innings at 159/4.

India surprisingly named senior player Mithali Raj in the playing XI and she contributed an unbeaten 24 off 20 balls after the fall of captain Harmanpreet Kaur (2). But she failed to hit a four off the last ball of the 20th over bowled by Leigh Kasperek as India lost the match by two runs. India needed 16 runs from the final over and Mithali and Deepti Sharma (21*) raised hopes of a remarkable win by hitting boundaries off the first and third deliveries but were left to hit a four off the last ball.

Electing to bat, New Zealand reached 80/2 at the halfway stage but India came back strongly to force a batting collapse as the home side ended their innings at 161/7. Sophie Devine top-scored with a 52-ball 72 while captain Amy Satterthwaite contributed 31 off 23 deliveries. The duo’s 71-run stand for the third wicket was the highlight of the New Zealand innings. Off-spinner Deepti Sharma grabbed two wickets for 28 runs while Poonam Yadav, Mansi Joshi, Radha Yadav and Arundhati Reddy took one wicket each. — PTI 

Smriti’s run

Smriti Mandhana’s top seven scores in T20Is have come in the last 12 months:

• Runs Match & date
• 86 vs NZ, Feb 10, 2019
• 83 vs Aus, Nov 17, 2018
• 76 vs Eng, Mar 25, 2018
• 67 vs Aus, Mar 22, 2018
• 62* vs Eng, Mar 29, 2018
• 58 vs NZ, Feb 6, 2019
• 57 vs SA, Feb 16, 2018
• 52 vs SA, Nov 30, 2014

Scoreboard

NEW ZEALAND 

• S Devine b Mansi 72
• S Bates c Harmanpreet b Arundhati 24
• H Rowe lbw b P Yadav 12
• A Satterthwaite c Rodrigues b R Yadav 31
• K Martin run out 8
• A Peterson not out 7
• L Kasperek lbw b Deepti 0
• L Tahuhu c Mansi b Deepti 5

Extras: (LB-2) 2

Total: (For 7 wkts, 20 overs) 161

FoW: 1-46, 2-69, 3-140, 4-142, 5-151, 6-155, 7-161

Bowling

• Deepti Sharma 4-0-28-2
• Mansi Joshi 4-0-27-1
• Radha Yadav 4-0-35-1
• Arundhati Reddy 4-0-33-1
• Poonam Yadav 4-0-36-1

INDIA

• P Punia st Katey b Kasperek 1
• S Mandhana c Tahuhu b Devine 86
• J Rodrigues c Satterthwaite b Devine 21
• H Kaur c Anna b Amelia 2
• M Raj not out 24
• D Sharma not out 21

Extras: (W-4) 4

Total: (For 4 wkts, 20 overs) 159

FoW: 1-29, 2-76, 3-102, 4-123

Bowling

• Lea Tahuhu 3-0-21-0
• Anna Peterson 2-0-23-0
• Leigh Kasperek 4-0-37-1
• Rosemary Mair 2-0-21-0
• Hayley Jensen 1-0-10-0
• Amelia Kerr 4-0-26-1
• Sophie Devine 4-0-21-2

Player of the Match: Sophie Devine