IND-W vs NZ-W | Devine half-century and catastrophic Indian collapse hands Kiwi dominant win in opener

Despite the threat of dew, New Zealand opted to bat first and made the decision count with a lightning powerplay as Suzie Bates and Georgia Plimmer racked up 55 runs within the first six overs. However, the Asian contingent shot back into the contest by scalping both in the space of four deliveries to end the 67-run stand and the runs dried briefly thereafter while Sophie Devine and Amelia Kerr looked to rebuild the innings. Their 32-run partnership came at less than run-a-ball, and Harmanpreet Kaur thought she had ended the resilience by running out Kerr after the Kiwi tried to sneak a single, only for the ball to be called dead in controversial fashion. Nevertheless, Kerr buckled just two balls later by lobbing a drive straight to short-cover, thus departing for a 22-ball struggle for 13. Devine kept chugging on with frequent boundaries all the same before Brooke Halliday joined the act with two back-to-back fours off Deepti Sharma in the 18th over. Devine furthered the momentum by bringing up a 33-ball half-century with a smoking boundary in the final over and remained unbeaten to help set a commanding target of 161.

Smriti Mandhana began the chase intently with a boundary off the first over but India’s dream of a grandstand powerplay were cut short early when Shafali Varma chipped one back to Eden Carson in the second over. Rosemary Mair and Jess Kerr bowled tight spells thereon to dry up the scoring rate, ultimately forcing Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur into lose shots in successive overs to leave them reeling at 43/3 after six. The Women in Blue never recovered thereafter, as more dot balls culminated in Jemimah Rodrigues falling cheaply to Lea Tahuhu for 13 followed by the wicket of Richa Ghosh for a 19-ball 12 in the 10th over. Arundhati Reddy followed eight balls later and Mair cleaned up the tail to finish with a four-fer, thus completing the collapse from 70/4 to 102 all-out