New Zealand's Amelia Kerr walloped a sensational century to hand Mithali-led India thier back to back defeat in second ODI of the five-match series. While chasing India's competitive target of 271, Amelia led from the front with her rocking 119 off 135 to cruise Black Caps to a three-wicket victory with six balls to spare. Deepti Sharma launched a fightback with an impressive spell of 4/52 but failed to save India from blushes as New Zealand are now 2-0 ahead in the ODI series.
Maddy Green also played an instrumental role in Kiwis' victory with a sedate knock of 52 of 61 while no other batter really clicked for them.
India tried their best to get hold of the situation but couldn't thwart the New Zealand side to canter to the victory. There was a clutch of performers from Indian side who badly missed the services of veteran bowler Jhulan Goswami.
However, if there was a competition for the most consistent batter in the world of women’s cricket, then there is seldom any doubt that the winner would have been none other than India’s ODI and Test captain Mithali Raj.
Coming in at number four, she put her head down and crafted an unbeaten 66 off 81 balls, including just the three boundaries, which indicates that she ran well between the wickets.
This was her second half-century in the series, having registered one in the first ODI on February 12. Raj’s innings of 66 helped India post a challenging score of 270/6 in 50 overs, which is team India’s highest total against New Zealand in women’s ODIs. India’s previous best against the White Ferns was 265/7 in 2017 at Derby.
With her 61st ODI half century, Mithali has now surpassed the likes of former India's men's cricket skippers MS Dhoni and Mohammad Azharuddin in terms of runs against New Zealand while captaining India. She has claimed a record for scoring most runs by any Indian captain against New Zealand as she has amassed a total of 739 runs. Meanwhile, Dhoni has been upstaged to second spot with 723 runs followed by Azharuddin with 678 runs.
Mithali Raj stitched a 108-run partnership with Richa Ghosh (65 off 64) for the fourth wicket, which is the first ever hundred-run partnership by an Indian pair for fourth or lower wickets in women’s international cricket in New Zealand. This partnership of 108 runs is the joint highest fourth wicket partnership for India in women’s ODIs.
Sabbhineni Meghana also made a significant contribution with a 50-ball 49 which was studded with seven fours to stitch 61 runs for the opening wicket with Shafali Varma (24), who, however, failed to convert a good start yet again.
Yastika Bhatia, who had made 41 in the first match, contributed 31 from 38 balls this time as the Indian top-order, except for vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur, gave a good account of itself.
Kaur continued her woeful form as she could only score 10 runs off 18 balls, the same score as in the first match.
For New Zealand, Sophie Devine was the pick of the bowlers with two wickets for 42 runs.
