Veda Krishnamurthy scored a fine 63 in tough conditions © Getty Images
India women have posted a respectable score of 182 for nine against the New Zealand women in the third One-Day International (ODI) at Bangalore. They will be quite happy with the total given how tough the conditions have been for batting throughout the tour. Veda Krishnamurthy scored a defining fifty and ended as the to run scorer in the innings. LIVE UPDATES: India vs New Zealand 3rd ODI, Bangalore
The Indian essay didn’t get off to a dream start with Thirush Kamini falling for just 15 runs on the board. Fellow opener Smriti Mandhana was dismissed for eight with the score of 29. When a familiar sight of a collapse seemed imminent, skipper Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur dug in resolutely to put on a decent partnership.
However, the partnership was broken with a spirited fielding effort by Katie Perkins to run out Harmanpreet. Mthali was dismissed soon after for a decent score of 30 runs, falling to fine bowling by Sophie Devine.
India were reduced to 78 for four at that stage, however, Veda Krishnamurthy batted in sublime fashion and was supported very well by Deepti Sharma. They put on a 71-run partnership to ensure India would get to a above par total in terms of this series.
Deepti then was dismissed by Kasperek, to bring the dangerous Jhulan Goswami at the crease in the death overs. Jhulan didn’t do much besides hitting a six before falling prey to amazing catching by Anna Peterson. Veda continued in fine fashion till the final over and ended with a lovely 63.
Though the score looks like a small one, anyone who has been following the series closely will realise that India have a decent chance of defending the total since runs have been hard to come by throughout the series. That this is the highest score in three matches indicates the same.
Brief scores:
India women (Veda Krishnamurthy 63, Mithali Raj 30; Sophie Devine 3 for 40) vs New Zealand
(Rishad D’Souza, a reporter with CricketCountry, gave up hopes of playing Test cricket after a poor gully-cricket career. He now reports on the sport. You can follow @RDcric on Twitter)