Follow UsAfter a crushing defeat in the first One-Day International (ODI) India Women will look to address their batting and fielding woes ahead of the second game against New Zealand Women in Queenstown on Tuesday (February 15).
Barring Mithali Raj's fifty, nothing went India's way as they succumbed to a 62-run loss after letting the White Ferns pile up 275. Suzie Bates was the star for the hosts, scoring her 11th century to help put her side in a formidable position.
Bates was given a reprieve when she was batting on 13 and from there on, she made the visitors pay with some Mithali scored a well-crafted 59, while Yastika Bhatia made 41.
All the other batters, including vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur (10 off 22 balls), failed to make any significant contribution in the face of a clinical bowling show from New Zealand led by Jesse Kerr (4 for 35).
The Indians' cause was not helped by the absence of senior opener Smriti Mandhana who missed the first ODI due to extended quarantine, along with Renuka Singh and Meghana Singh. Mandhana and Meghana are not likely to be available for the second ODI either but pacer Renuka could make the team as she is out of her quarantine.
The only positive from the first game was that barring Harmanpreet, all the Indian bowlers were among wickets with Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Jhulan Goswami and Rajeshwari Gayakwad taking two apiece, while Poonam Yadav got one.
With the 50-over World Cup less than three weeks away, Raj was a bit concerned, especially on the batting front, though she expected the team to make improvements. "We should be able to score 270 because that's the standard now in women's cricket," she said.
She also wanted her bowlers to get used to the New Zealand conditions at a faster pace.
"It's important to get used to the conditions, it's in a way good that we are playing a series before World Cup. We definitely made a comeback in later half of first innings. It took time for the bowlers to get used to windy conditions because there was a lot of breeze in the middle."
India started off the New Zealand tour with an 18-run loss in the one-off T20I and began the ODIs with a huge loss too. They will hope to return to winning ways with a much-improved performance in the second game of the series.
(With inputs from PTI)