Women’s World Cup 2022: Upbeat India hope to make it two-in-two in upcoming clash against New Zealand – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

Buoyed by successful start to their campaign, Team India will be hoping to make it two wins in as many games when they take on hosts New Zealand in the eighth match of the ICC Women’s World Cup on Thursday.

India handed arch-rivals Pakistan a comprehensive 107-run defeat in the opening game on Sunday, a game that saw the ‘Women in Blue’ maintain their undefeated record against their neighbours.

India, however, aren’t the only side entering this contest on the back of a comprehensive victory. The White Ferns, after all, had bounced back from the narrow defeat to West Indies in Match 1 of the tournament by outplaying Bangladesh in a nine-wicket hammering in a rain-curtailed match on Monday.

As far as the Indians are concerned, their focus would be around the non-performance of the middle-order and its tendency to go into a shell, and crumble when the pressure starts to build.

Pakistan were unable to capitalise on the dramatic collapse on Sunday, where India had been reduced to 114/6 from 96/1 in the middle overs before being rescued by a record partnership between Pooja Vastrakar and Sneh Rana. The 122-run seventh-wicket stand allowed them to set a challenging target in the vicinity of 250, and shift the momentum back in their favour.

The Indian team opened their account in the 2022 ICC Women’s World Cup with a 107-run win over Pakistan. AFP

The Indian team think tank will know however, that the White Ferns attack might not give them as many chances of making a comeback from such a tricky situation in their next assignment.

Additionally, the victory over Pakistan cannot be used to sweep some glaring issues under the carpet, the most prominent of which was skipper Mithali Raj’s scoring rate after her 36-ball 9 against Pakistan in which she found herself unable to pick the gaps or rotate the strike regularly, which helped build pressure on the Indian batters that led to the collapse.

What will give Mithali confidence however, will be her performance against New Zealand in their own backyard just last month. The India captain finished the second-highest run-scorer in the five-match one-day series, collecting 235 runs at an average of 78.33 against an attack comprising the likes of Lea Tahuhu, Hayley Jensen, Amelia Kerr and the rest of the White Ferns attack.

New Zealand, the only team apart from Australia and defending champions England to have won the World Cup in the history of the prestigious tournament, froze in the final over of their 260-run chase against the West Indies thanks to some outstanding death bowling from Deandra Dottin. Their clinical, all-round performance against Bangladesh, however, seemed to suggest the heartbreaking defeat appeared to have little effect on them other than providing some valuable lessons.

Both openers Suzie Bates and skipper Sophie Devine have made impact-worthy performances in the two games that they have played so far, the former smashing a 68-ball 79 against Bangladesh. That, along with Amelia Kerr appearing to have picked up from where she left off in the one-day series against India, certainly makes for a menacing top order and as far as India’s concerned, one of the key threats in the upcoming game.

Also in focus will be senior batter Amy Satterthwaite, who further established her all-round credentials with a haul of 3/25, her handy off-spin rocking the Bangladeshi batting unit in the middle overs and she, along with leg-spinner Amelia Kerr could be vital for the White Ferns in the second powerplay.

The last time the Indian women’s team played at Hamilton’s Seddon Park, which will play host in the upcoming game, the Women in Blue were bundled out for 149 in an eight-wicket defeat in February 2019.

However, the venue appears to be quite the belter in this tournament, having earlier witnessed a high-scoring encounter between arch-rivals Australia and England. As many as 608 runs were scored in that contest that saw a century being produced from both camps, and if that performance is anything to go by, we could witness another run feast on this track.

Squads:

India: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Harmanpreet Kaur, Mithali Raj (c), Richa Ghosh (wk), Sneh Rana, Jhulan Goswami, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Taniya Bhatia, Poonam Yadav, Renuka Singh, Yastika Bhatia.

New Zealand: Sophie Devine (c), Suzie Bates, Amelia Kerr, Amy Satterthwaite, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Katey Martin (wk), Lea Tahuhu, Jess Kerr, Hannah Rowe, Fran Jonas,
Hayley Jensen, Rosemary Mair, Georgia Plimmer, Frances Mackay.

Venue: Seddon Park, Hamilton

Time: 6.30 am IST | 2.00 pm local

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