Will rain wash away India’s World Cup semi-final hopes?:Women in Blue set to clash with New Zealand today, with 75% chances of rain in Mumbai

India is set to face New Zealand in the 24th match of the Women’s World Cup today. The match will be played at 3 PM at DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai. Notably, the India women’s team will play an ODI match for the first time at this stadium. So far Indian team has played eight T20Is here before the upcoming match. It is a must-win scenario for Women in Blue today if they want to secure the semi-final berth in ODI World Cup. So far in the tournament, both India and New Zealand have played 5 matches each. India is in fourth place in the points table with 2 wins and 3 losses. Meanwhile, New Zealand Women are in fifth place with one win, 2 losses, and 2 games ended without any result. The pressure on India is more than ever before. The team faced defeat in three consecutive matches that they could have won, and it is still searching for its perfect playing XI. After playing with five bowlers for the first four matches, against England, they dropped Jemimah Rodrigues and played Renuka Singh. New Zealand’s pure domination in World Cup(ODI) head-to-head vs India In the Women’s World Cup, India and New Zealand have faced each other 13 times. New Zealand won 10 matches, while India secured victory in only 2 matches. One match was tied. However, if we talk about overall ODIs, New Zealand has the upper hand here too. The team has defeated India 34 times out of 57 matches. However, the last time both teams clashed in the 2017 World Cup, India registered a victory. The team defeated New Zealand by a huge margin of 186 runs. Mandhana team’s top batter, Deepti is the tournament’s second-highest wicket-taker Opener Smriti Mandhana is India’s top batter. She has scored 222 runs in 5 matches with a strike rate of around 95, including two fifties. In the last match against England, Mandhana missed a century, scoring 88 runs. Meanwhile, her teammate Pratika Rawal is also in excellent form, having scored 186 runs, and wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh has 171 runs to her name. Deepti Sharma delivered her best spell in this World Cup against England, scalping 4 wickets. Deepti is the tournament’s second-highest wicket-taker, having claimed 13 wickets in 5 matches. At the start of the tournament, India’s young fast bowler Kranti Goud had raised hopes, but her performance has dipped slightly in recent matches. Against South Africa, she conceded 19 runs for 1 wicket in her first 5 overs, but then gave away 40 runs in the final four overs. She hasn’t been able to take a single wicket in the last two matches. On Navi Mumbai’s batting-friendly pitch, Goud will have to quickly improve her plans so that India can restrict New Zealand to a low score. Sophie Devine leads the charge for New Zealand New Zealand captain Sophie Devine is the team’s top scorer. She has scored 260 runs in 5 matches so far at a strike rate of 88. She has also scored one century and 2 half-centuries. However, she has not received support from her openers. Suzie Bates and Georgia Plimmer’s performance has been poor so far. Their partnership average is 10.66, which is the second-worst among all teams in the tournament. Bates scored 29 runs against Bangladesh after two consecutive ducks, while Plimmer could only manage a total of 35 runs in three matches. In the bowling department, Lea Tahuhu took the most wickets for New Zealand with 9. Her best performance was 3 wickets for 22 runs. Jess Kerr also supported her well, taking 8 wickets in 5 matches. A look at some records… Pitch Report The pitches in Navi Mumbai are batting-friendly. The only ODI match played at the ground in this World Cup was between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The Sri Lankan team could only score 202 runs after choosing to bat first. Chamari Atapattu had mentioned that there was light dew in the second half. In such a situation, the team winning the toss might opt to bowl first. Weather Report Mumbai has recently experienced some rain. There is a 75% chance of rain on Thursday. The weather will be hazy in the afternoon, and there might be rain with strong winds in the evening. Possible Playing-XI India- Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Richa Ghosh (Wicketkeeper), Amanjot Kaur, Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma, Renuka Singh, Kranti Goud, Shree Charani.
New Zealand- Suzie Bates, Georgia Plimmer, Amelia Kerr, Sophie Devine (Captain), Brooke Halliday, Maddy Green, Isabella Gaze (Wicketkeeper), Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Eden Carson, Lea Tahuhu.