Indian women's team loses 3rd T20I, suffers 0-3 series whitewash vs NZ

Indian womens team almost pulled off a dramatic win but failed to score a boundary in the final delivery to lose the third and final T20 International against New Zealand by a mere two runs here on SundayChasing 162 for a win star opening batswoman Smriti Mandhana took the Indian team on course for a consolation win with a careerbest knock of 86 from 52 balls but the visiting side failed to build on her scintillating knock to end their innings at 159 for 4With the threematch series already lost after defeats in the first and second T20Is India surprisingly named senior player Mithali Raj in the playing eleven and she contributed 24 not out from 20 balls after coming to bat at the fall of captain Harmanpreet Kaur 2But she failed to hit a four from the final delivery bowled by Leigh Kasperek as India lost the match by two runsIndia needed 16 runs from the final over and Raj and Deepti Sharma 21 not out raised hopes of a remarkable win by hitting boundaries in the first and third deliveries but were left to hit a four off the last ballCaptain Harmanpreet Kaur whose indifferent form has hurt the team said she was disappointed at the result and the 03 series defeat India had won the threematch ODI series 21 before this T20 contestWe are disappointed to lose the series like this we could have done better We have a lot of work to do she said after scoring just two on SundayShe had scored 17 and 5 in the first two matchesIn T20 Internationals we need to make improvements in the final 10over batting More importantly we need to sort out the batting orderBut there are positives from this series like the batting of Smirti and Jemimah as well as the performance of bowlers she addedMandhana who had scored 58 and 36 in the first two matches continued her redhot form by notching up her eight T20I fifty and second of the series as she dominated against New Zealand bowlers yet againWith onedown Jemimah Rodrigues 21 the other batswoman who has been in fine touch India reached 92 for 2 at the halfway stageBut after that India could not force the pace of scoring and with captain Kaur failing to make a mark the asking rate kept on climbingWhen Mandhana was out in the 16th over India needed 39 from 43 overs which was not an easy job Raj and Deepti could not get too many boundaries and they were left with 16 to win from the final overElecting to bat New Zealand looked set to post a much bigger total by reaching 80 for 2 at the halfway stage but India came back strongly to force a batting collapse as the home side ended their innings at 161 for 7Hardhitting opener Sophie Devine topscored with a sparkling 52ball 72 which was laced with eight boundaries and two sixes while captain Amy Satterthwaite contributed 31 from 23 deliveriesThe duos 71run stand for the third wicket from exactly eight overs was the highlight of the New Zealand innings The other opener Suzie Bates 24 and onedown Hannah Rowe 12 were the other batswomen who reached to doubledigit figuresDevine dominated against all the Indian bowlers especially against legspinner Poonam Yadav whom she hoisted for two big sixes during her onslaughtBut once Devine was dismissed in the 17th over New Zealand suffered a batting collapse scoring just 21 runs from the remaining 32 overs From 140 for 2 in the 17th over New Zealand ended their innings at 161 for 7The Indians got a wicket each in the 18th and 19th overs and two from the final over to make a remarkable comeback in the final five overs from which they conceded just 34 runsOffspinner Deepti Sharma grabbed two wickets for 28 runs while Poonam Yadav Mansi Joshi Radha Yadav and Arundhati Reddy took a wicket apiece