Muristek
Queenstown, February 14
The crushing defeat in the opening game exposed a lot of chinks in their armour and a depleted India will be eager to address their batting and fielding woes when they face New Zealand in the second women's ODI here tomorrow.
Nothing worked on Saturday with the bowlers allowing the hosts to pile on 275 before the batters, except captain Mithali Raj, flopped to be all out for 213 and lose the match by 62 runs.
Mithali was virtually the lone hand with a well-crafted 59 while rookie Yastika Bhatia made 41.
All the other batters, including vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur (10 off 22 balls), failed to make any impact in the face of a clinical bowling show from New Zealand led by Jesse Kerr (4/35).
India's cause was not helped by the absence of senior opener Smriti Mandhana, who missed the first ODI due to extended quarantine, along with Renuka Singh and Meghana Singh.
Mandhana and Meghana are unlikely to be available for the second either but pacer Renuka could make the team as she is out of her quarantine.
With the ODI World Cup less than three weeks away, Mithali was a bit concerned.
"We should be able to score 270 because that's the standard now in the women's cricket," she said. —