Devine, Mair & Tahuhu star as New Zealand hand India 58-run hammering

Coming into the Womenrsquos T20 World Cup New Zealand had lost 10 T20Is in a row But when it mattered the most they rose to be topclass in all departments to hammer a listless India by 58 runs in a Group A match of the 2024 Womenrsquos T20 World Cup at the Dubai International Stadium here on FridayAfter Suzie Bates and Georgia Plimmer gave New Zealand a brilliant start through a 67run partnership for the opening wicket captain Sophie Devine applied strong finishing touches by hitting seven boundaries ndash mixed with sheer power and good placement in her unbeaten 36ball 57 at a strikerate of 15833 ndash as they posted 1604 on a sticky pitchChasing 161 which would have been Indiarsquos most successful chase in the tournamentrsquos history Harmanpreet Kaurs team never got going and fell like nine pins to be bowled out for 102 in 19 overs No batter went past 15 in an insipid performance as Rosemary Mair took 419 while Lea Tahuhu picked 315 and Eden Carson broke the game open by getting the Indian openers inside the first four oversThe big margin of defeat serves as a serious blow to Indias hopes of reaching the semifinals India suffered an early setback in the chase as Shafali Verma went for a flick off Eden but got a leading edge to give the spinner an easy return catch Smriti Mandhana was next to fall in the fourth over ndash dancing down the pitch to go big but holed out to longoff to become Edenrsquos second wicketAlso ReadKerrs controversial nonrunout decision stirs heated debate in cricket circlesRosemary Mair found some good swing and was rewarded for it when her sharp inswinger trapped Indiarsquos new number three batter Harmanpreet Kaur lbw for 15 With New Zealand keeping things tight Jemimah Rodrigues fell in a bid to break the shackles ndash chipping to midon off an outside off delivery from Lea TahuhuIndiarsquos slide continued when Richa tried to close her batface early but got a leading edge and was caught by midoff on a slower ball from Lea From there the result was a foregone conclusion as the rest of the batters fell without doing much to reduce the margin of defeat in a comprehensive hammering for India as the White Ferns shined bright at the Ring of Fire in Dubairsquos cool eveningPreviously New Zealandrsquos opening pair of Suzie and Georgia were positive in their approach walking down the pitch and piercing gaps to find boundaries and partly helped by Indiarsquos misfields While Suzie took two fours off Pooja Vastrakar Georgia smacked a four and six off Deepti SharmaGeorgia took two boundaries off Arundhati Reddy in the final over of Powerplay while Suzie survived on 18 when Richa Ghosh couldnrsquot hold on to the top edge off her bat as New Zealand ended the Powerplay at 550 The superb 67run opening stand ended when Suzie didnrsquot time her slog off Arundhati and found deep midwicketOne brought two for India as Georgia came down the pitch to loft Asha Sobhana but holed out to longon Sophie began her superb knock by hitting consecutive fours off Asharsquos short deliveries even as Amelia Kerr wasnrsquot in her usual grooveOn the last ball of the 14th over Amelia got a reprieve when her runout at the strikerrsquos end was deemed a dead ball by onfield umpires with Harmanpreet Smriti Mandhana and Amol Muzumdar having lengthy discussions with them and the fourth umpire Replays showed Amelia was run out while attempting a second run just after the umpire returned Deepti her cap at the nonstrikers endBut in the next over Amelia went for a cut off Renuka Singh Thakur and picked out a diving extra cover Sophie continued to find boundaries with ease ndash a straight drive and cut of Renuka got her backtoback fours followed by going deep in the crease to pull Shreyanka for another boundaryBrooke Halliday was inventive in getting a brace of fours via reverse sweep and sweep before giving a catch to extra cover off Renuka Sophie gave New Zealand a strong finish with a pull off Deepti for four followed by getting her fifty with a carve over midoff against Shreyanka fetching her another boundaryIndia was forced to have only three fielders outside the 25yard circle due to an overrate penalty in the last over also worked in New Zealandrsquos favour as 21 runs came off the last two overs which was enough for them to be too good for IndiaBrief scoresNew Zealand 1604 in 20 overs Sophie Devine 57 not out Georgia Plimmer 34 Renuka Singh Thakur 227 beat India 102 all out in 19 overs Harmanpreet Kaur 15 Rosemary Mair 419 Lea Tahuhu 315 by 58 runsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever