Preview: Will India level up or White Ferns seal the series?

Maithilee Shetty

07 Feb 2019

New Update

Preview: Will India level up or White Ferns seal the series? — India players celebrate after taking a wicket. © ICC

Date: Friday, 8 February 2019

Venue: Eden Park, Auckland

New Zealand has taken 1-0 lead in the T20I series. India has to reflect back on their performance to tie the series in the next match. In the previous match, the dependence of the team showed on Mandhana is striking. India were 102 for 1 while chasing a target for 160. Smriti Mandhana hit the fastest T20 half-century off 24 balls. The inexperience of the middle order on this surface is inevitable, they have to step up to support the Indian star and not overburden her.

Also Read: India's overdependence on Mandhana and Harmanpreet raises questions over team composition

India left out Mithali Raj in the last match. India is most likely to miss the experience of Mithali Raj even in the upcoming matches. Harmanpreet in the interview mentioned “giving chance to youngsters.”

For the White Ferns, they kept the momentum going after Hamilton winning the first T20 of the series. Although they have lost the ODI series they have looked fresh and have a different approach towards the series. “Partnerships are something we spoke about after the ODIs and we managed to work on them,” emphasized Satterthwaite.

Players to watch out for:

Poonam Yadav: She is India's most experienced T20Is bowler with 70 wickets in 49 matches with a wicket off every 14th delivery. She added one wicket to her tally in the previous match. India will need their experienced bowler to step up and help level the series on Friday.

Katey Martin: The White Ferns wicketkeeper-batter has a strike rate of 109.94 in T20Is. She helped White Ferns propelled their innings with a blazing knock of 27 off 14 balls with 2 sixes and 1 four and a strike rate of 192.86. Katey also played hand in the dismissal of three batters with two stumpings and a catch.

Conditions:

Eden Park is a flat pitch and short boundaries, which is high scoring. Also, the humid and sub-tropical conditions combine to produce wickets that assist slow and spin bowlers.

Who said what:

"Practically, I would say I have to bat till 20 overs that is the best option. The more I bat till 18 overs, we won't collapse because if the top three or four batters can bat till the 18-20th overs then the rest can revolve around them, so tactically that is what I will try to do"- Smriti Mandhana

“Next time, we have to plan better. We planned here as well but it didn’t work out. We thought we had the run rate under control. It was under seven. We ended up conceding 10-15 runs extra with the ball. If you get Devine, Satterthwaite and Bates out, it is crucial to not let their lower middle-order not score enough runs.”- Lea Tahuhu

Predicted Playing XI:

India: Priya Punia, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia, Anuja Patil, Dayalan Hemalatha, Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Arundhati Reddy

New Zealand: Suzie Bates, Sophie Devine, Amy Satterthwaite (c), Katey Martin, Leigh Kasperek, Amelia Kerr, Anna Peterson , Rosemary Mair, Hannah Rowe, Lea Tahuhu

India Smriti Mandhana New Zealand WHITE FERNS Amy Satterthwaite Smriti India tour of New Zealand 2018/19