Batters stumble as India-W get off to a bumpy start in Women’s T20 World Cup

It wasn’t exactly the start that India were looking forward to the T20 World Cup as New Zealand got the better of them in their  tournament opener. The Indian batters resigned without a fight against the White Ferns despite a competitive show with the ball.

Winning the toss, New Zealand opted to bat first and their two openers, Suzie Bates (27) and Georgia Plimmer (34) lived upto the dizzyingly lofty standards that were being pinned upon them. The duo blasted a quickfire 67 runs for the opening stand before Arundhati Reddy removed the former while Asha Sobhana bagged her first wicket on her T20 World Cup debut.

Amelia Kerr (13) didn’t really trouble the Indian bowlers much but an incoming storm in the form of Sophie Devine dashed the hopes of the Indian bowlers. The RCB all-rounder smashed 57 from just 36 balls, clobbering seven fours in the process while staying unbeaten till the very end to propel New Zealand to a staggering 160/4. Renuka Singh was the pick of the lot for the Indians with figures of 2/27.

The Indian batters, however, were jolted to a rude awakening. The Kiwi bowlers were relentless with the ball in their hands and barely any of the Indian players could hardly get the required momentum going. Despite Harmanpreet Kaur leading the charge for India, it wasn’t enough as India got skittled out for 102.

India will be playing Pakistan tomorrow in what is going to be an important fixture in order for them to make up for the slow start against the Kiwis. They still have four games in the group stages to go including tomorrow’s fixture.