It was a dominating performance by the Indian women who thrashed New Zealand women by 186 runs in the virtual quarter finals played at County Ground, Derby.
The Kiwis team won the toss and elected to field as captain Raj 100 and Veda Krishnamurthy quick fire 75 helped Indian eves to post a competitive total of 265 for 7. Chasing the target of 266, the Indian women picked wickets at regular and bowled out New Zealand for 79.
New Zealand captain Suzie Bates won the toss and elected to field. The Indian eves got off to a worse start losing the wicket of Punam Raut in the 4th over. Smriti Mandhana hit few good strokes before being dismissed by Hannah Rowe for 13. At the end of 10 overs, India were 31 for 2. After the powerplay overs, Raj and Kaur steadied the innings taking singles, hitting bad balls away for boundaries. Rain intervened when the Indian team was 60 for 2. After the rain break, Raj and Kaur were positive with their intent.
Mithali Raj completed her fifty in 71 balls while Kaur also played positive shots. Both of them continued to play the New Zealand bowlers with ease. Kaur completed her fifty in 81 balls ending a 132 runs partnership for the third wicket. India lost 2 wickets of Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma in quick succession. Veda Krishnamurthy gave the team momentum with some clean hitting while Raj completed her 6th ODI century in 116 balls. Krishnamurthy made completed her fifty in 34 balls and was dismissed for 75 in 40 balls while Raj played a captains knock off 109. Both of them added 108 runs in 13 overs for the 5th wicket. Indian eves posted 265 for 7 in 50 overs.
Chasing the target of 266, New Zealand women lost 2 early wickets of Rachel Priest and Suzie Bates. Shikha Pandey and Jhulan Goswami did not allow them to score runs with ease. At the end of first 10 overs, New Zealand were 26 for 2. After that the Indian spinners consisting of Deepti Sharma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad bowled with great control. Gayakwad was the pick of the bowlers for Indian eves taking 5 for 15 playing her first match of the tournament. New Zealand women were bowled out for a paltry total of 79 in 25.3 overs.
In other matches, Australia defeated South Africa, England defeated West Indies,
Indian women 265 for 7 ( Mithali Raj 109, VedaKrishnaMurthy 70, Kasperek 3/45) beat New Zealand women 79 in 25.3 overs (Amy Satterthwaite 26, R Gayakwad 5/15) by 186 runs
Australian women 269 in 48.3 overs ( Bolton 79, RL Haynes 55, S Luus 5/67) beat South African women 210 in 50 overs ( L Wolvaardt 71, T Chetty 37, Jonassen 2/40) by 59 runs
England women 220 for 7 in 50 overs ( HC Knight 67, Beaumont 42, ASS Flecther 3/33) beat West Indies Women 128 for 9 in 50 overs ( HK Mathews 29, NR Sciver 3/3) by 92 runs.
Captain and player of the match Mithali Raj: It was a great effort by the team as some of us will be playing our last World Cups. Harmanpreet Kaur partnership with Mithali Raj and VedaKrishnaMurthy was important to give us a total of 265 for 7. We lost 2 successive matches in this tournament but came back well to win this match.
The semi-finals line up is decided
1st semi-finals: England vs. South Africa 18th July (Bristol)
2nd semi-finals: India vs. Australia 20th July (Derby)
