Openers Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal scored contrasting centuries and shared a 212-run partnership to lay the foundation for India’s 53-run win via DLS method against New Zealand in a rain-hit Match 24 of the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup here on Thursday.
The win sealed India (six points) a place in the semifinals, where they joined Australia, England and South Africa with a match to spare. Though both India and New Zealand have a match each and can tie on six points (if India lose to Bangladesh and New Zealand beat England), India will still make it to the last-four as they will have more wins (3 against 2).
Mandhana produced a masterclass in stroke-play as she compiled a brilliant 109 off 95 balls, while Rawal started cautiously and then played some aggressive shots in scoring 122 off 134 balls as India posted 340/3 in 49 overs. With rain halting play once again, New Zealand was set a revised target of 325 off 44 overs as per the DLS Method, but they fell short by 53 runs despite valiant efforts by Brooke Halliday, Isabella Gaze and Amelia Kerr.
Halliday struck an 84-ball 81 while Gaze played a cameo as New Zealand, chasing a revised target of 325 in 44 overs, managed to reach 271/8 after India rode on contrasting centuries by Smriti Mandhana (109 off 95 balls) and Pratika Rawal (122 from 134) and a blazing unbeaten 76 off 55 balls by Jemimah Rodrigues to post 340/3 in 49 overs.
The match was disrupted twice by brief spells of rain, the first one after the 48th over in India’s innings, resulting in a one-hour-long break due to wet patches in the outfield and the match was reduced to 49 overs. There was another interruption during the 10-minute mid-innings break, and the match was further reduced to 44-overs-a-side, and New Zealand was set a revised target of 325.
But their chase failed to take off as Kranti Gaud sent back opener Suzie Bates for 1 in the second over, as the batter took a swing at a wide delivery outside off, only for Pratika Rawal to grab a catch at over-point.
Georgia Plimmer (30) and Amelia Kerr (45) took the score past fifty inside the nine-over Mandatory Power-play, with the former going out aggressively, hitting back-to-back boundaries off Renuka Singh and a mighty six over wide long-on off Sneh Rana. The butter-fingered IndMedia dropped her twice with Gaud grassing a caught-and-bolled chance. She was eventually cleaned up by Renuka Singh off a thick inside edge for 30 off 25 balls (5×4, 1×6).
New Zealand’s hopes rested on skipper Sophie Devine, their most experienced player, who will be retiring after the World Cup, but she did not survive for long, castled by Renuka Singh with a nip-backer that beats the inside edge. Devine was out for six, and the White Ferns slumped to 59/3.
With the DLS equation changing with each falling wicket, Amelia Kerr tried to force the pace and took the score past the 100 mark. However, a sharp grab by Smriti Mandhana at short mid-wicket off as she attempted to hit out at a tossed-up delivery outside off by Sneh Rana. New Zealand were 115/4 in the 21st over and looking in deep trouble. Amelia scored 45 off 53 balls (4×4) but got out after getting set.
Brooke Halliday kept their hopes alive with a fighting half-century, reaching her fifty off 59 balls. But the going was very slow with the White Ferns, with Deepti Sharma, Pratika Rawal and Shree Charani bowling tight spells.
Isabella Gaze hammered Kranti Gaud for back-to-back boundaries in the 34th over after surviving a couple of run-out attempts, the first one by millimetres off a direct hit by Jemimah from midwicket. She then struck fours on successive balls off Deepti Sharma, and Halliday clobbered a six over deep-midwicket for 17 runs in the 35th over. But the White Ferns faced a mammoth task with 121 needed off 54 balls.
Halliday was caught by Sneh Rana off Shree Charini, miscuing an attempted big one to be caught at the long-on fence. Halliday’s vigil produced 81 runs off 84 balls (9×4, 1×6), and with that ended New Zealand’s hopes in the tournament.
Gaze scored her maiden ODI half-century off 39 balls (9×4) and remained unbeaten on 65 off 51 balls, but that was too late and too little.
Earlier asked to bat first, Mandhana (109 off 95 balls, 10×4, 4×6) and Rawal (122 off 134, 13×4, 2×6) laid a massive foundation for a big score in what was a must-win match for India.
Mandhana and Rawal raised a massive partnership of 212 runs for the first wicket, the highest for India in ODIs. This was their fourth 150-plus stand in ODIs, joint-most by any pair, alongside Belinda Clark-Lisa Keightley and Suzie Bates-Amy Satterthwaite. This was their seventh century stand in ODIs, the joint-most for an Indian pair.
While Smriti Mandhana was aggressive in her approach and hammered ten boundaries and three sixes in her 109 off 95 balls, Pratika dropped the anchor and compiled a superb 122 off 134 balls, hitting 13 boundaries and two sixes as India made hay on a pristine, dry pitch that was quite good for batting. Mandhana scored her 14th hundred in ODIs, Rawal compiled her second ODI hundred and first in the World Cup.
India’s much-maligned top order finally came good as Jemimah Rodrigues, brought into the playing XI in place of Amanjot Kaur, built on the foundation laid by Mandhana and Rawal as she scored a blazing half-century to give the innings a final push. The Mumbai batter blazed to fifty off 38 balls. With two overs remaining in the Indian innings, the match was interrupted by a short, sharp spell of rain.
After a slow start in which they crawled to 40/0 in the Power-play, India scored 75 runs in the next 10 overs (11th to 20th) and 73 in the overs between 21st to 30th), while 66/1 came off overs between 31-40.
That gave the bowlers a lot to defend, and they managed that with aplomb for a comprehensive victory.
Brief scores: India 340/3 in 49 overs (Smriti Mandhana 109, Pratika Rawal 122, Jemimah Rodrigues 76 not out; Suzie Bates 1-40, Rosemary Mair 1-52) New Zealand (revised target 325 in 44 ovs) (Brooke Halliday 81, Isabella Gaze 65 not out, Amelia Kerr 45; Renuka Singh 2-25, Kranti Gaud 2-48) by 53 runs via DLS method
