Smriti Mandhana led the charge with her eighth ODI hundred as India won their three-match ODI series against New Zealand 2-1. On Tuesday, the hosts won the decider by six wickets at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Mandhana also made history, going past Mithali Raj’s tally of most hundreds by an Indian women’s batter in ODIs.
After opting to bat first, the White Ferns were bowled out for 232 in 49.5 overs. They lost Suzie Bates, Lauren Down and Sophie Devine in single digits, but Georgia Plimmer and Brooke Halliday restored sanity to proceedings. Plimmer scored 39 runs off 67 balls before leg-spinner Priya Mishra dismissed her.
Halliday put her head down and brought up her half-century off 72 balls. She went on to score 86 off 96 with nine fours and three sixes. Just when it seemed that she would get a three-figure score, Deepti Sharma accounted for her wicket.
At 88 for five in 23.3 overs, New Zealand looked in all sorts of trouble. But useful contributions from their lower order batters took them to a respectable score. Deepti was the pick of the Indian bowlers with figures of 10-2-39-3. Renuka Singh and Saima Thakor picked up a wicket apiece.
India lost the early wicket of Shafali Verma as Hannah Rowe gave the White Ferns a crucial breakthrough. From there on, Mandhana and Yastika Bhatia put on 76 runs for the second wicket off 17.2 overs. After Bhatia got out on 35, Mandhana held the innings together and made sure that India did not suffer any hiccups.
She joined hands with Harmanpreet and the duo put on 117 runs for the third wicket. Mandhana went on to make 100 off 122 with 10 fours before Rowe cleaned her up. Harmanpreet, on the other hand, stayed unbeaten until the very end, scoring 59 off 63 with six fours.
Jemimah Rodrigues played a handy cameo of 22 off 18 before Fran Jonas trapped her. Harmanpreet creamed her opposite number, Devine, for a four through covers to hit the winning shot as India chased down the target with 34 balls to spare.
