India will need to raise its game a couple of notches if it is to prevent New Zealand from winning the five-match one-day international series here on Monday. The visitor leads 2-1, having recorded an emphatic victory in the previous fixture, and will be confident of success in the fourth ODI at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
The home team's plans came undone on Friday, when its bowlers failed to defend a total of 182. The spinners Ekta Bisht and Rajeshwari Gayakwad could not make much of an impact as the New Zealand openers marched along. “We just had faith in our bowling that we could defend whatever we posted,” Veda Krishnamurthy said afterwards. “Right now our bowling is the strength. We banked on the bowlers. It didn't work out today.”
Veda's 61 was one of the few bright spots for India, her knock the highlight of a slightly improved batting display. The Karnataka player, who appears to have rediscovered her touch after nearly three years out of the national side, will be keen to cement her place in the team.
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Only the first three ODIs of the series had ICC Women's Championship points on offer, but New Zealand vehemently refutes suggestions that it might take its foot off the pedal now. “We've come all the way over here and we really want to win the whole series, which is five games,” Rachel Priest said after her half-century on Friday. “It was really key for us to get the points on the board. But we will feel we missed out if we don't go on and win the series now. That's a massive goal for us.”
Points or no points, a series defeat would come as a terrible blow to India's confidence. “It's okay if there are no ICC points but winning a series against them will give us a boost,” Veda said. “It is a home series so it makes a lot of difference.”
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India: Mithali Raj (Capt), Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Poonam Raut, Shikha Pandey, M.D. Thirushkamini, R. Kalpana, Veda Krishnamurthy, Deepti Sharma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Ekta Bisht, Sneh Rana, Poonam Yadav and N. Niranjana.
New Zealand: Suzie Bates (Capt), Kate Broadmore, Sophie Devine, Natalie Dodd, Maddy Green, Georgia Guy, Leigh Kasperek, Morna Nielson, Katie Perkins, Anna Peterson, Rachel Priest, Hannah Rowe, Amy Satterthwaite and Lea Tahuhu.