Muristek
Queenstown, February 18
Veteran pacer Jhulan Goswami's impressive three-wicket haul was the only bright spot as India again failed to defend an imposing total with New Zealand notching up a series-clinching three-wicket victory in the third ODI here today.
After sitting out of the second ODI, the 39-year-old Jhulan led the bowling pack as she accounted for three early wickets to rock the home side's run chase of 280.
But the New Zealand middle and lower-order batters pegged India back to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match ODI series.
India seemed to be cruising to their first win of the tour when they reduced the hosts to 171/6 in the 35th over but Lauren Down's heroics (65 not out) took the Kiwis home with five balls to spare.
This was the second-highest run chase in the women's ODI history.
New Zealand needed 105 runs from the last 15 overs, and 64 from 10 with four wickets in hand, but the Indians failed to polish off their lower-order. Down and Katey Martin (35) made life difficult for India with a 76-run stand for the seventh wicket.
New Zealand needed 18 runs from the last two overs and Goswami conceded 12 in the penultimate over before Down, who was dropped on 10, hit a six off the first ball of the final over bowled by Deepti Sharma to reach 280/7 and win the match.
"Every game the batting unit has been doing well. It goes down the wire... But there are areas we need to improve in the field," a disappointed India captain Mithali Raj said after the match. "We didn't get the partnerships we wanted in the middle-order," she added.
India had lost the first two ODIs by 62 runs and three wickets, respectively, after suffering an 18-run defeat in the lone T20I. — PTI
Powar 'not concerned', blames lack of game-time
Queenstown: The Indian women's team is winless so far in its ongoing tour of New Zealand but coach Ramesh Powar is "not concerned at all" as he attributed the poor performance to lack of game-time due to Covid and quarantine-related issues. "We had only three days of practice sessions ahead of the tour. You cannot get into a competitive series like against New Zealand in such less time. So, there will be some rustiness in the players' approach," Powar said at the post-match conference. "There is no concern at all, I'm not concerned about anything. After Australia, we did not play any game as a team. We came straight to New Zealand. When you want to address a few issues about batting, fielding and bowling, you need to play as a group before a series which did not happen," he added.