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New Zealand captain Sophie Devine said it is not her job but the umpires' to make the decisions on the field. On October 4, the campaign opener between India and New Zealand was marred by controversy as Amelia Kerr got a reprieve when umpire called for a dead ball. Amelia had walked off the field as she was run out trying to sneak a second run but the fourth umpire asked her to get back to the pitch. The decision led to Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur fuming on the field while head coach Amol Muzumdar expressed his disappointment in the dugout.
"My understanding of it is that [the ball is dead] when the umpire calls 'over' and I didn't hear the umpire call 'over'. But obviously that's at the umpire's discretion in terms of when they think the ball is dead," Sophie said in the post-match press conference. "It was an interesting one, and I guess it broke a little bit of momentum and maybe stalled them [India] a bit. That's part of cricket, isn't it?
"The interpretation is always going to be slightly different. For us, it was [us] trying to pinch runs here and there [because] you never know when one run might count. Look, [we] trust the umpires - they obviously made the call at the end of the day. That's their job; it's not really any of my business. They are the ones who have to apply, I just sometimes try to push the boundaries a little bit."
However, Amelia could not use the second chance well. In the 15th over, Renuka Singh dismissed her. Amelia scored 13 runs fom 22 balls.
Sophie’s captain’s knock
Meanwhile, Devine, on the other end, accelerated in the slog overs. In the 18th over, she made Harmanpreet pay for giving another over to off-spinner Deepti Sharma by hitting her for three fours in the 16-run over. In the final over, she reached her half-century from 33 deliveries. The captain's knock helped her side post a challenging total of 160/4 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. In reply, India suffered a batting and were bowled out for 102 in 19 overs. They lost the match by a big margin of 58 runs.
