The Indian women’s cricket team will face tough questions as they take on New Zealand in a three-match ODI series at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium starting on October 24. Coming off a disappointing performance in the recent T20 World Cup 2024, India will look to bounce back against the newly crowned T20 world champions, the White Ferns.
Harmanpreet Kaur will be under scrutiny after India’s lackluster showing in the T20WC. A heavy defeat to New Zealand in their opening game proved costly as India were knocked out early.
Despite playing at home, India will have to be at their best to challenge a motivated New Zealand side. In terms of head-to-head record in ODIs, New Zealand has the upper hand against India, winning 33 out of the 54 matches played, while India has won only 20.
Recent encounters have also favored New Zealand, with the White Ferns winning four out of the last five ODI games against India. In their most recent clash at the 2022 ODI World Cup, New Zealand comfortably defeated India by 62 runs, with India being bowled out for 198 while chasing a target of 261.
In matches played in India specifically, India has a slightly better record with 10 wins compared to New Zealand’s 8 out of 18 matches.
Looking ahead to the 1st ODI, the predicted playing XIs are as follows:
India women predicted Playing XI – Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Dayalan Hemalatha, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Deepti Sharma, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Shreyanka Patil, Radha Yadav, Renuka Thakur Singh, Arundhati Reddy.
New Zealand women predicted Playing XI – Suzie Bates, Georgia Plimmer, Amelia Kerr, Sophie Devine (c), Brooke Halliday, Maddy Green, Isabella Gaze (wk), Eden Carson, Lea Tahuhu, Hannah Rowe, Jess Kerr.
It will be interesting to see how the series unfolds as India looks to turn the tide against a strong New Zealand side.
