New Zealand Women got in their stride pretty early and didn’t let loose control of the match even until the last ball, which capitulated in a fantastic win. Openers Sophie Devine and Suzie Bates set the tone for a solid performance with the bat, and a disciplined bowling unit restricted India in the run-chase. Lea Tahuhu proved to be the star of the show for the home side because of her all-round skills.
Having won the toss, Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur asked New Zealand Women to bat first on the Queenstown Events Centre deck in the first and only T20I of the tour. Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine arrived to the crease with an air of confidence, and after a brief period of testing out the opposition bowlers and assessing how the ball was moving, they brought out the big guns. New Zealand went from 9/0 inside the first three overs to 49/0 inside the powerplay.
Devine was dropped in the early quarters of the match by Simran Bahadur. The mistake proved to be costly as the New Zealand captain made the most of her second life. She slammed two boundaries and two sixes on her way to a 23-ball 31.
Devine also shared an opening stand of 60 runs inside eight overs with Suzie Bates and gave her team exactly the kind of start they were looking for before being dismissed by Deepti Sharma. Suzie Bates fell next after getting bowled by Rajeshwari Gayakwad.
Bates finished as the top-scorer of the contest with 36 runs at a strike rate of 105.88 and her innings was laced with two boundaries. India’s spin attack then pulled things back with some disciplined and tight spells.
Tahuhu was promoted up the order, and she came in at number 5 instead of Brooke Halliday and Maddy Green. The move ended up paying dividends for the White Ferns as Tahuhu slammed four fours and a six to score 27 runs in only 14 deliveries. Katey Martin also smashed two fours in the three balls she faced to add the final touches to the innings and take NZ to a pretty competitive score of 155/5.
Although the White Ferns consistently scored runs at over seven an over after the first couple, Indian bowler Pooja Vastrakar proved to be extremely impressive. She bowled a maiden over in her spell of four overs and conceded only 16 runs. More importantly, Vastrakar also accounted for the wickets of Amelia Kerr and Tahuhu. Deepti Sharma also picked up two wickets for just 26 runs in her spell of four overs.
In the absence of regular opener Smriti Mandhana, who is still in the Managed Isolation and Quarantine facility managed by the New Zealand government, India decided to open with Yastika Bhatia and Shafali Verma. Mandhana is likely to be unavailable for the first ODI as well along with Meghana Singh and Renuka Singh, who are also in the same facility.
Shafali, known for her pyrotechnics, had a rare quiet day in the office and got dismissed for a 14-ball 13 in the powerplay itself. Yastika, with a run-a-ball 26 was the first wicket to fall for the Women in Blue. The successive dismissals in the same Amelia Kerr over would’ve triggered a collapse had it not been arrested by Sabbhineni Meghana, who played a valuable knock.
In her first international outing in six years, she looked extremely impressive. With the help of six boundaries, she scored 37 runs in only 30 deliveries and had it not been for her knock, India might’ve finished with an embarrassing total.
Meghana received little to no support from the other end. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who had scored just 121 runs in six matches in 2021 got dismissed after scoring 12 runs, and Richa Ghosh’s innings also followed a similar route, and a barrage of five dismissals for 35 runs left India crawling, and they finished 18 runs short of New Zealand’s total.
Jess Kerr, Amelia Kerr and Hayley Jensen picked up two wickets each, although Jensen proved to be the most expensive bowler. Tahuhu, also registered figures of 1/27 and picked up the important wicket of Meghana. She was awarded the player of the match for her all-round exploits.
