Women's Cricket | India beat New Zealand in second ODI to take unassailable lead in series

Opener Smriti Mandhana and skipper Mithali Raj oversaw yet another convincing victory for the Women’s cricket team after India chased down a small target of 162 runs with 88 balls remaining. Mandhana remained unbeaten on 90 runs off just 83 deliveries, while Raj scored a steady 63-run innings. 

"It feels great but I think our bowlers deserved the player of the match award more than me. I will give it away to our bowlers, they did a great job to restrict New Zealand on a good wicket," Mandhana said in the post-match presentation, reported PTI.

While the batsmen chased down the small target easily, the task for the batsmen was made easy by bowlers who packed the Kiwi innings for 161 runs in the first innings. While Jhulan Goswami took three wicket spending just 23 runs from 50 deliveries she bowled, the spin troika of  Ekta Bisht, Deepti Sharma and Poonam Yadav picked two scalps each. 

"I am happy with the way the team is shaping up. I have always enjoyed batting in challenging conditions. It wasn't easy, it required patience here. Smriti is in good form and somebody had to give her support," Raj said.

While India performed almost perfectly it was another trying day in the field for the New Zealand players as they slumped to a consecutive loss. During the first innings, no other batsman other than the New Zealand captain Amy Satterthwaite scored a half-century. Amy scored 71 runs in her innings and kept on searching for a partner to build a partnership throughout the innings but was not able to do so.

"Frustrated to be honest, not putting enough runs on the board. Just comes down to that really," Amy said after the match.

The next and final ODI match of the series is scheduled to be played on 1st of the next month at the Seddon Park in Hamilton.

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