India-W clinch series with emphatic win over New Zealand as Smriti Mandhana spearheads charge

The Indian women's cricket team got back on winning track as they sealed the 3-match ODI series with an emphatic win in the series decider. It was Smriti Mandhana who led from the very front with an excellent century while chasing a decent total on the board.

With the fate of the series on the line, New Zealand won the toss and opted to bat first.

The Indian women had a rush of early joys as Jemimah Rodrigues ran Suzie Bates (4) out while Saima Thakor got rid of Lauren Down (1) in quick succession. The woes for the White Ferns kept on mounting as Priya Mishra rattled through the gates of their skipper, Sophie Devine for a modest nine next to her name.

Georgia Plimmer (39) looked good in the crucial partnership with Brooke Halliday (86) as the duo added 30 runs for the fourth wicket. Priya Mishra got the better of the synergy by taming a high-flying Plimmer. Another excellent enterprise from Jemimah Rodrigues saw the back of Maddy Green (15), reducing them to 88/5.

It was then that the visitors rode high on a fine partnership of 64 runs between Halliday and Izzy Gaze (25) to pose a serious threat to the Indian ambitions. India’s star all-rounder Deepti Sharma was finally able to break the partnership when she got the better of Gaze.

Another partnership of 47 runs involving Halliday and Hannah Rowe saw New Zealand trying to fend off the inevitable but Deepti Sharma was too persistent to let that happen. She finally broke the resolve of Brooke and forced open the floodgates. The Indian bowlers waited for no further invitation as they bundled out the visitors for 232 with a ball to spare.

Deepti Sharma was the pick of the lot for the Indian bowlers with figures of 10-2-39-3 while she had decent support from Priya Mishra who racked up a brace while also registering a maiden in her allotment of 10 overs.

Chasing 237, India had a bit of an early stutter as Shafali Verma’s tryst with woes continued. Hannah Rowe got the better of the hard-hitting Indian opener for 12. However, an incoming Yastika Bhatia provided the much-needed reliability for the Indian women while Smriti Mandhana took charge at the other end.

The duo posted 76 runs for the second wicket, steering the Indian ship to a decent position before Sophie Devine could finally best Bhatia (35) off her own bowling. The fall of Bhatia did very little to dissuade the Indian from their lofty aspirations as captain Harmanpreet Kaur brought in further brick and mortar to bolster the Indian chase.

Mandhana and Kaur added 117 runs for the third wicket, propelling India to 209 already and with very little to chase down. Mandhana was finally bested by Hannah Rowe as she became the leading Indian woman with the highest number of centuries in women’s ODI. Smriti leapfrogged Mithali Raj by blasting her eighth century while India made merry at Ahmedabad.

Captain Kaur stayed unbeaten till the end for a brilliant 59 off just 63 balls while India secured the series with a thumping 6-wicket victory to complete the sequence. Smriti Mandhana was awarded the Player of the Match for her incredible ton while Deepti Sharma bagged the Player of the Series award for a thoroughly consistent performance with both the bat and the ball.