Indeed, it was a poor ploy from Devine, who is so experienced, but the credit must be given to Deepti for showing a terrific presence of mind to get a big wicket.
The presence of mind of Deepti Sharma resulted in a cheeky run-out of Sophie Devine during the sixth of the 12th over. She was slightly careless with her approach, and Deepti was proactive enough to find her short of her crease.
Deepti bowled a fuller-length delivery, to which Devine stepped out of her crease and defended back to the left of the bowler but didn’t go back to the crease. Deepti first didn’t throw it, but when she saw Devine hadn’t gone back to her crease, she threw it to the wicketkeeper immediately.
The wicketkeeper, Yastika Bhatia, dislodged the bails, but Devine went a couple of steps back. The replays showed Devine’s foot wasn’t behind the sticks, and according to the rule, something must be behind the wickets before the bails are taken off.
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The big screen loaded ‘OUT’, and Devine, who must have been prudent enough to make it to her crease in time, had to depart on a score of 2 on the sixth delivery of the 12th over. Indeed, it was a poor ploy from Devine, who is so experienced, but the credit must be given to Deepti for showing a terrific presence of mind to get a big wicket.
After winning the toss, India opted to bat first but couldn’t perform too well with the bat. They could only score 227 and were all-out in 44.3 overs.
Tejal Hasabnis top-scored 42 runs, whereas Deepti Sharma also played a fine hand of 41 runs. Yastika Bhatia (37) and Jemimah Rodrigues (35) also got starts but couldn’t convert them into a big score, while Amelia Kerr took four wickets with the ball.
Jess Kerr (3) and Eden Carson (2) also bowled well and played a crucial role in restricting India to a mere 227. During the chase, New Zealand have lost seven wickets for 132 runs in 30.4 overs.
They couldn’t form partnerships, and India brought consistent breakthroughs to keep New Zealand under pressure. They are favourites to win the game, and the Kiwis will require a special effort to win it from here.
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