Internet Desk: After facing two back to back defeats, Mithali Raj led Indian women’s cricket team will lock horns with New Zealand in a do-or-die clash. It will be a virtual quarterfinal match in the ICC Women’s World Cup tomorrow as the winning team will make it to the semifinal of the tournament.
India is holding the fourth spot on the points table and with a poor run rate, a loss on Saturday will end all the dream of the Women in Blue to reach the semifinal of the World Cup.
India started their journey in the tournament on a high note as they won their first four matches on the trot, but in the last two games they lost their focus and lost both the matches.
In their last match India faced a humiliating loss by eight wickets against Australia, despite of a brilliant century by Punam Raut, and a record breaking 69 from skipper Mithali Raj.
Whoever wins tomorrow will secure the last remaining semi-final spot with hosts England, South Africa and defending champions Australia already qualifying for the last four.
Heading into the last league games, England, South Africa and Australia will primarily play for position in the semi- final but for India and New Zealand it is a do-or-die situation.
The Indians only have themselves to blame for their current situation as they batted unexpectedly slow on a track that was offering a bit of turn and grip.
After the early dismissal of Smriti Mandhana, skipper Raj and Raut started slowly, allowing the Australian spinners to dictate terms.
In trying to stabilise the innings after an early wicket, Raj, who became the highest ODI run-scorer during that knock and the first woman to score more than 6,000 ODI runs, played uncharacteristically slow, using up 54 balls for her first 20 runs, and finished on a 114-ball 69.
Opener Mandhana’s bat surprisingly became quite after impressive knocks in the first two games and India would be hoping for the left-hander to deliver the goods tomorrow set the platform for the innings.
On the bowling front, pace spearhead Jhulan Goswami has looked a pale shadow of herself in the tournament so far and the Indians would be relying on their spinners — Deepti, Ekta Bisht, Harmanpreet and Poonam Yadav to take the responsibility on their shoulders.
If New Zealand win and Australia beat South Africa by a big margin, they could also move to the third spot.
Teams (from):
India: Mithali Raj (captain), Ekta Bisht, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Jhulan Goswami, Mansi Joshi, Harmanpreet Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy, Smrti Mandhana, Mona Meshram, Shikha Pandey, Poonam Yadav, Nuzhat Parween, Punam Raut, Deepti Sharma, Sushma Verma, Smriti Mandhana.
New Zealand: Suzie Bates (captain), Amy Satterthwaite, Erin Bermingham, Sophie Devine, Maddy Green, Holly Huddleston, Leigh Kasperek, Amelia Kerr, Katey Martin, Thamsyn Newton, Katie Perkins, Anna Peterson, Rachel Priest, Hannah Rowe, Lea Tahuhu.