CHENNAI: If there ever was a perfect game for India on the tour of New Zealand, this was it. Their first-choice front-line pacers — Meghna Singh and Jhulan Goswami — were available for selection and in fact, picked wickets early in the power play and spinners broke partnerships in the middle-overs.
Smriti Mandhana (71) and Harmanpreet Kaur (63), whose form was under scrutiny, scored half-centuries along with skipper Mithali Raj (54 n.o). More than registering their only win of the bilateral tour before the World Cup, in Mithali’s own words, they were able to play a XI that's closest to their strongest.
While the third seamer is still a concern going into the tournament, India turned to their spin quartet, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Poonam Yadav, in the middle overs and they delivered, taking seven wickets between them. With the bat, chasemaster Mandhana, who averages 69.94 in successful run chases, provided the visitors with the perfect start they could have asked for.
However, the thing that Mithali and the team management would be pleased with is to see Harmanpreet at her best. Her knock included six fours and a six after walking in to bat ahead of the captain at No 4. Although the hosts did not attack the stumps enough and gave her enough width, especially early on, Kaur hadn’t looked this good in India colours since her last fifty, which was against South Africa in March 2021.
The delight in the dressing room was visible; so much so that when she jumped out of the crease and smacked Fran Jonas out of the ground, Mandhana hugged her. It was telling. “It was really important for the team,” said the southpaw after the match.
“It was good to see her playing all those shots she was playing. I was just happy to watch that from the other end. For the team going into the World Cup, it was really important that both of us score and get confidence with all other batters.”
India’s next stop is a couple of warm-up matches before they take on Pakistan in their opening game of the World Cup on March 4. If they are able to have more perfect games, the runners-up from the last edition might just have yet another memorable World Cup campaign.
Brief scores: New Zealand 251/9 in 50 ovs (Amelia 66; Rana 2/40) lost to India 252/4 (Mandhana 71; Jensen 1/29)