India women were clinical in 5th ODI © IANS (File Photo)
India women beat New Zealand women by nine wickets in the fifth and final One-Day International (ODI) of the series at Bangalore. The series was tied at 2-2 before this and a clinical display from Indians ensured they won the series 3-2 with a clinical performance. Updates: India women vs New Zealand women, 5th ODI, Bangalore
Earlier in the day, Indian bowlers bowled superbly to restrict the New Zealand women to a small total of 118. Suzie Bates played through most of the innings but could not see his team through to a big score. New Zealand had won the toss and elected to bat first, things did not quite work out for them as they lost Rachel Priest in the very first over and then lost Amy Satterthwaite soon after. Read: India Women vs New Zealand Women 2015: 5 reasons to follow the series
Sophie Devine and Bates tried to resurrect the innings with a small stand but Harmanpreet Kaur struck gold when she trapped Devine in front of the stumps for 18. Bates played well for her 42 but never got support from the other end. Jhulan Goswami, Deepti Sharma and Rajeshwari Gayakwad all of them took two wickets each. Read: New Zealand women bowled out for 118 against India women in 5th ODI at Bangalore
India came out to bat for a short period of time but did not quite get the best of starts as they lost Smriti Mandhana for a score of 13. Thirush Kamini though batted superbly with Deepti Sharma who was promoted up the order. They played through lunch without any more trouble.
Both players then shared a 103-run stand to ensure that they themselves saw India through. Kamini scored the third fifty of the series to ensure runs kept flowing. Both of them did not allow the White Ferns to think of a comeback. The Indian opener was unbeaten on 62 at the end with Deepti unbeaten at 44 at the other end. The game got over in a fashion that summed up the game, Kamini tried to finish the game with a maximum but hit it straight to the fielder who dropped it.
New Zealand will be disappointed with the way they played today. They came back nicely after losing the first ODI but squandered the chance and lost two games in a row to lose the series 3-2. But this will serve them good in future as the player will learn a lot from this tour.
Brief Scores:
New Zealand Women 118 in 41 overs (Suzie Bates 42; Jhulan Goswami 2 for 17, Rajeshwari Gayakwad 2 for 15) lost to India Women 121 for 1 in 27.2 overs (Thirush Kamini 62*, Deepti Sharma 44*; Morne Nielson 1 for 23) by 9 wickets.