Debutants Tejal Hasabnis and Saima Thakor shone with bat and ball respectively as India put their 2024 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup disappointment behind them to beat New Zealand by 59 runs in the first ODI on Thursday.
Playing without captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who was ruled out of the match due to a niggle, India were bowled out for 227 in 44.3 overs after opting to bat first.
Fresh off her Player of the Match performance in the World Cup Final on Sunday, Amelia Kerr did the most damage to the Indian batters with her leg spin. She finished with figures of 4/42 in nine overs, including the wickets of India’s top two scorers – Hasabnis (42) and Deepti Sharma (41).
Her sister Jess Kerr also struck thrice, including the wicket of India’s stand-in captain Smriti Mandhana cheaply for just five.
Wicket-keeper Yastika Bhatia (37) and Jemimah Rodrigues (35) were the other vital contributors as India pushed their total past the 220-run mark at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Tasked to defend a moderate total, Thakor removed the experienced Suzie Bates in her first-ever over in international cricket.
Georgia Plimmer and Lauren Down steadied the ship for the White Ferns with a 33-run stand, but the former was soon prized out by Sharma.
Sophie Devine’s stay also did not last long, thanks to a mix up in running between the wickets with Down as New Zealand struggled at 46/3 in 12 overs.
Brooke Halliday then joined forces with Down (26) and the pair added 33 runs for the fourth wicket before Radha Yadav struck to remove the latter.
Halliday (39) continued to battle on with Maddy Green (31) with a partnership of 49 runs before Thakor returned to send Halliday packing.
The rest of the White Ferns batters fell like a pack of cards with Green running herself out. Amelia Kerr finished unbeaten on 25, as India bowled out New Zealand for 168 in 40.4 overs.
Yadav finished with figures of 3/35 on her return to the ODI set-up, while Thakor recorded 2/26 on her debut.
