(Cricket news) After losing all 4 ODIs, India managed to avoid a whitewash by defeating New Zealand by 6 wickets with 3 overs to spare. New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat as India continued their theme of chopping and changing as Renuka Singh Thakur, Yastika Bhatia and Pooja Vastrakar made way for Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur and Poonam Yadav.
India bowled well for the first time in this series to restrict the White Ferns to 251. The women in blue managed to pick up wickets at regular intervals and not leak too many runs. Amelia Kerr continued her incredible run with another half century. Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma and Rajeshwari Gayakwad picked up two wickets each while Poonam Yadav and Meghna Singh got a scalp each. Jhulan Goswami went wicketless in her 7 overs while Harmanpreet Kaur wasn't given the ball at all. There was also a slight improvement in India's fielding with a couple of good catches and a run out. Throws from the deep were much more powerful and accurate.
The target was definitely gettable and India did well to chase it down with 4 overs to spare. India's 3 premium and senior batters Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana turned up and scored half centuries to guide their team to victory. Smriti Mandhana hit 9 boundaries in her 84 ball 71 at the top of the order. Mandhana's form has been pretty consistent but she needed this to get some momentum going after missing the first 3 games. Harmanpreet Kaur came back into the side after missing the last one and scored 63 off 66 balls in a classic Harmanpreet innings consisting of 6 fours and a huge six.
The Indian vice captain was underperforming on the international stage for a long time. Her record breaking WBBL where she won the Player of the Tournament award was seen as a switch but she again flopped in the T20I and the first ODIs. This innings is very crucial, not only for her but the entire team. Mithali Raj dropped down to number 5 but still continued her great form with a 66 ball 54 hitting 5 fours. She played a composed knock to get her side over the line to avoid a whitewash.
India did have a disappointing tour as a whole but this convincing victory will do them a world of good. In a couple of days they start playing the warm up games for the World Cup before their opening game against Pakistan. India do not have a set team or combination going into the tournament which is their biggest concern. Going by the last two games it does look like they are going to keep their batting order flexible and promote and demote batters according to the situation. One thing is very clear that they have treated this entire series as practice games for the World Cup. Only time will tell whether that was the correct approach.
Also read: Here's why Deepti Sharma will be India's most important player in the World Cup
