Sophie Devine, the New Zealand skipper, hailed the performance of the openers for setting up the platform for the team’s 58-run win over India in their opening encounter of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024. Sophie Devine confessed that it was a game they had been planning for, to every little detail, for nearly a year.
A fiery opening partnership and Sophie Devine’s outstanding 57* saw New Zealand post the highest total of the tournament so far, leaving India requiring 161 to win. And the chase rarely looked on, with wickets falling all-too-regularly for Harmanpreet Kaur’s India, who were bowled out 58 runs shy of their target, leaving them in a difficult position in Group A.
Pitch and Toss
Pitch report: “It has cooled down slightly, breeze flowing across the ground might mean dew might not come in. 63m and 53m square boundaries, 73m down the ground. This is firm, lot of live grass. Should be moderate pace and bounce. There could be some spin later but if there’s dew, that probably won’t happen as well” suggest Nasser Hussain and WV Raman.
New Zealand Women skipper Sophie Devine won the toss and chose to bat first with the side balanced with experience in the Playing XI. India Women skipper Harmanpreet Kaur was confident of chasing the total with her playing XI.
Sophie Devine’s captain’s knock and blazing Powerplay power’s NZ to 160
New Zealand won the toss and captain Sophie Devine opted to bat first in Dubai’s first evening game. That decision was vindicated by a superb powerplay, with the White Ferns openers putting on 55 runs in the first six overs and benefitting from some poor fielding from India.
Arundhati Reddy thought she’d picked up the wicket of Suzie Bates when the veteran skied a catch to the back-tracking Richa Ghosh, only for the keeper to put the chance down. But the damage wasn’t too great, with Reddy getting Bates in her next over, with the opener holing out for 27 off 24 balls. And one wicket soon brought two, as Asha Sobhana ended Georgia Plimmer’s sparkling knock of 34 (23).
After Sophie Devine had called right and chosen to bat on a pitch that had seen a match take place earlier in the day, the openers did not waste any time to get going. Suzie Bates toyed with Pooja Vastrakar’s lengths with her footwork and pocketed two boundaries in the opening over which set the tone. Her partner, Georgia Plimmer, drove and lofted Deepti Sharma for a four and a six in her first over to keep the momentum going.
The constant push for boundaries inside the powerplay earned New Zealand welcome runs even when there weren’t boundaries coming their way, like eight of Deepti’s second over. Arundhati Reddy was the first bowler to throw the duo off balance with her slower deliveries. She even produced a chance with Bates top-edging a cutter only for wicket-keeper Richa Ghosh to fumble and drop the skier. Nevertheless, the openers racked up 55 inside the powerplay which put India on the backfoot straightaway.
But Reddy got Bates to hole out to deep midwicket in her following over enabling an India comeback through the middle overs. Plimmer followed suit in the next over, running out early against leggie Asha Shobhana and holed out to long-on for a 23-ball 34. Reddy and Sobhana gave away only 20 runs in the next five overs as India pulled things back. Sophie Devine, meanwhile, settled in watchfully before unleashing her power against Shobhana for back-to-back boundaries that signaled another upsurge for New Zealand.
Asha Sobhana had successfully applied the squeeze after India bled runs and reprieves to the New Zealand openers in the Powerplay. In the first-three of her four-over spell on the bounce, the leg spinner had given away only 10 runs and prized out the aggressive opener Georgia Plimmer.
At the beginning of her fourth – the 13th of New Zealand’s innings – Sobhana tossed one up full outside off and seeing that the mid-off was in the ring, Sophie Devine drilled it powerfully right past the bowler. This was New Zealand’s first boundary since the PowerPlay, and an aggressive shot first ball forced the leg spinner to drag her length back immediately. Sophie Devine knew exactly what to expect, and went deep in her crease to club one through the legside this time.
After a dramatic over that saw Amelia Kerr run out, reprieved, and then finally dismissed in a bizarre sequence of events, Sophie Devine was up against another one of her RCB teammates, Renuka Thakur dished out a slot ball and Devine cleared her front leg to muscle it down the ground, leaving the seamer, the non-striker and the umpire all ducking for cover.
Anticipating a wide, slower ball to close out the over, Sophie Devine took a couple of traces out of the crease to exploit the unmanned deep regions on the offside and simply slapped it over covers to let her power do the rest.
Oddly enough this was Sophie Devine’s first brush with both Thakur and Sobhana at the highest level, but for a month at least in the last two years she’s been in meetings discussing bowling strategies with the pair at RCB. Six of her seven fours came against the bowling troika of her franchise. This is not to suggest that Devine, with 18 rich years of experience at the highest level, wouldn’t have found a way around India’s attack, but the considerable time spent with nearly half this current Indian XI in the same dressing room has admittedly helped.
Sophie Devine had only six runs off the first 10 balls she had faced. From the next 26, she accumulated 51, second-guessing India’s bowlers and using the feet to great effect to manoeuvre the crease and set herself up for strokes on both sides of the pitch. En route this, she helped New Zealand challenge India to a daunting target of 161 that by her own admission was “10-15 above par”.
New Zealand showed their intent from the word go with Suzie Bates pulling the first ball of the innings to deep square-leg for four, and she stepped down the track as early as third ball for a drive past mid-off for her second four, all off Pooja Vastrakar. Plimmer – who is fresh off her first maiden T20I fifty, against Australia – also unsettled Deepti Sharma in the third over.
This included a six when she came down the track and lofted one over long-on. They also benefited from India’s sloppy fielding – Richa Ghosh dropped Bates, who got a top edge to the keeper, in the final over of the powerplay. The duo brought up the team 50 in 34 balls, hitting five fours and a six, to end the powerplay strongly at 55 without losing a wicket and set the platform for a competitive total.
After conceding 55 runs in the powerplay, India fought their way back into the game in the middle overs but they couldn’t keep Sophie Devine quiet. Between the last World Cup and this one, she had batted mostly at No. 4 barring two games – this was after playing at the top of the order from 2017 to early 2023 – to bring more power to the middle order.
But Sophie Devine had not found a lot of success this year, averaging 21.25 in nine innings with just two half-centuries. The New Zealand captain had also come into the tournament with scores of 5, 12, 4, 5. But it didn’t matter on Friday as Devine once again proved her credentials as a big-match player to lift New Zealand.
After seven boundary-less overs, she punished S Asha for back-to-back fours, dancing down the track to smash one through mid-off and pulling one away to deep square-leg off the back foot. She kept the scorecard ticking and didn’t spare the pace of Renuka Singh either, hitting consecutive fours in the 15th over. She found the extra-cover boundary to bring up her 21st T20I fifty. Along the way, Sophie Devine shared a 46-run stand off 26 balls with Brooke Halliday for the fourth wicket and gave New Zealand a strong finish.
Sophie Devine’s unbeaten 57 off 36 after a flying start from openers Georgia Plimmer and Suzie Bates helped New Zealand post 160 for 4, which proved way too much for India.
A solid partnership between captain Sophie Devine and Melie Kerr looked to have come to an end when India appealed for a run out as the batters looked to take a second run, but the umpires ruled that the ball had been dead and not out was the call, prompting lengthy discussions between the players and officials on the field.
That incident had little bearing ultimately, with Kerr (13) departing two balls later when she picked out Pooja Vastrakar off the bowling of Renuka Singh. But the runs kept on flowing for the Kiwis, with Devine finding the boundary time and again in a brilliant half-century that set her side up beautifully.
Brooke Halliday added 16 runs with a lively cameo, and Maddy Green (5*) found the boundary late on as New Zealand reached 160/4 – a total that proved more than enough to pull off an important win.
Rosemary Mair shine with 4 wickets to hand India a crushing 58 runs loss
In the chase, everything that could go wrong did for India, did go wrong. Shafali Varma was out caught and bowled softly off the first ball by offspinner Eden Carson. It set a precursor for what was to follow as a host of Indian batters fell tamely. Smriti and Harmanpreet Kaur went on a short period of consolidation before the former holed out to long-off off Carson again.
India were dealt another body blow inside the powerplay when their skipper was out LBW to a big inswinger from Rosemary Mair. Lea Tahuhu then broke through the middle order having Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh and Deepti Sharma caught as India’s innings meandered towards a point of no return before Mair wrapped up the innings with a career-best haul of 4-19.
India’s batters couldn’t handle the New Zealand pace attack, as Rosemary Mair starred with four wickets and Lea Tahuhu picked up three. But it was all set up by leg spinner Eden Carson, who struck a double-blow early, removing openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana. With Harmanpreet Kaur – at No. 3 for the first time in 18 months – falling for a 14-ball 15 inside the powerplay, the chase got tricky for India, who were a batter short, and lost six wickets for 60 runs to be bowled out for 102 in 19 overs.
India had three fast bowlers in the XI for the first time in a T20I this year, with Vastrakar, Renuka and Reddy all included. Left-arm spinner Radha Yadav, India’s second-best bowler this year in terms of wickets taken, was left out to accommodate an extra seamer. The six-bowler strategy meant Harmanpreet was promoted to No. 3 with Jemimah Rodrigues and Ghosh at Nos. 4 and 5, respectively. But playing with one batter fewer did not help India on a day their batting unit underperformed.
Chasing a competitive 161, India lost their top three inside the powerplay and the middle order faltered against the hard lengths of Tahuhu before Mair’s swing troubled the lower order. Ghosh consumed 19 balls to make 12 and Deepti made 13 off 18. Harmanpreet’s 15 remained the top score.
On a pitch that had looked good for batting in the first innings, India’s top order failed to get going, with five of the top six reaching double figures but nobody passing 15. Eden Carson did the damage early on, removing both openers, taking a return catch to dismiss Shafali Verma (2) and having Smriti Mandhana caught at long-on for 12.
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur looked in good touch as she led the recovery, but fell at the back-end of the powerplay when she was trapped in-front by Rosemary Mair. And wickets continued to fall, as Jemimah Rodrigues’ promising knock came to an abrupt end when she was caught for 13(11), leaving India needing their middle order to pull off a rescue job.
With the required rate rising, India needed something special, but the increasingly unlikely task proved too much, as New Zealand rattled through the wickets to expose the tail and leave the match done as a contest well before the final delivery. Richa Ghosh (12), Deepti Sharma (13), Arundhati Reddy (1), Pooja Vastrakar (8), Shreyanka Patil (7) and Renuka Singh were the remaining wickets to fall, as India were bowled out for 102.
Rosemary Mair’s 4/19 were the pick of the figures, with Lea Tahuhu taking 3/15, Eden Carson bagging 2/34 and Melie Kerr finishing with 1/19.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Sophie Devine the winning skipper said : I’m just incredibly proud of this group. To put together such a comprehensive performance is something I’m proud of. We’ve been targeting this game for a long time now. We take inspiration from the Black Caps as well. If you look at our powerplay, we’ve been getting some terrific starts.
That’s what we wanted today – to put the pressure on the bowlers. We spoke about 150 being par. Pleased to get 10 runs above that. Probably know them too well having played them recently. But it’s always a big challenge playing Australia.
Harmanpreet Kaur the losing skipper said : We didn’t play our best cricket today. Going forward we have to think what areas we have to improve. Every game now is important and we have to play our best cricket. We created chances, it’s not like that we didn’t create.
They played better cricket than us, no doubt about that. This is such a high stage where you can’t make these mistakes. We have chased 160-170 many times. But on that pitch .. it was 10-15 runs too many. At one stage, the way they started, I was thinking it would be 180. This wasn’t the start we were expecting (in this tournament).
Sophie Devine NZ skipper was Player of the Match for her 57 runs said : The platform that was set by the opening batters was important. We spoke about capitalizing on a good start and getting some momentum through overs 7-10 but that was probably where we were a bit slow today.
We knew if we hung around we could get a strong finish and post a good total. Some nice cameos in there from Kerr and Halliday. It was tough out there, the pace was off, had to muscle it and try and find the gaps. Was trying to find the tempo and the pace of the wicket. Was trying to stay out there because if I knew if I got 10-15 away I’d be able to go on. We’ve worked incredibly hard over the last 6 months, great to get the win today.
New Zealand had lost 10 matches in a row coming into this World Cup, but they’ve turned up here today and hammered India – one of the strong contenders – by a massive margin. It’s a huge blow to India’s chances in what is already a tough group. Captain Harmanpreet called this the best Indian team at a T20 World Cup, but they just weren’t good enough today from start to finish. After opting to bat, New Zealand were on the front foot right from the start as the opening pair of Suzie Bates and Georgia Plimmer took the attack to the Indian bowlers.
Captain Sophie Devine then took control, smashing 57 off 36 to set up a challenging target of 161 on a pitch where the ball was holding up every now and then. In reply, India faltered early and kept faltering against the swing of Rosemary Mair, the guile of Eden Carson and the hard lengths of Lea Tahuhu. They barely managed to cross 100 with wickets falling regularly. Going to be a difficult road from here.
What a start to the tournament from New Zealand. They had India rattled with their aggressive approach with the bat early on, and then had them tied down with the ball. Plenty to think about for Harmanpreet’s team who can’t afford any more slip-ups in a difficult group. Their NRR has taken quite a beating as well with this 58-run loss today. Coming in as one of the strong contenders, this is a big blow for them and will need something special to bounce back.
This match was the opening game of the tournament for both teams, with India and New Zealand joined in Group A by defending champions Australia, Asia Cup winners Sri Lanka, and opening-day victors Pakistan. Neither side has ever won a Women’s T20 World Cup, but both have reached finals in the past, with New Zealand finishing runners up in 2009 and 2010, and India beaten in the 2020 final.
A fiery opening partnership and Sophie Devine’s outstanding 57* saw New Zealand post the highest total of the tournament so far, leaving India requiring 161 to win. And the chase rarely looked on, with wickets falling all-too-regularly for Harmanpreet Kaur’s India, who were bowled out 58 runs shy of their target, leaving them in a difficult position in Group A.