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The intent for content: Indian women’s cricket and untapped opportunities to do more on social media

RAIN DELAYS START OF PLAY. Match to start at 8.10 am IST start, 20-overs per side.

TOSS: Mithali Raj opts to bowl

NZ: 191/5 (20 overs), IND: 128 all out (17.5 overs)

Summary: India were defeated in a rain-hit ODI that was reduced to 20 overs as White Ferns won by 63 runs to take a 4-0 lead. The match became an effective T20 due to rain as Amelia Kerr stole the show with a 33-ball-68 which took New Zealand to 191 for 5. She then mopped up the tail with 3 for 30 as India managed only 128 before being all-out in 17.5 overs.

Teenager Richa Ghosh’s counter-attacking 52 off 29 balls was the only silver lining in an otherwise forgettable performance for India which has now led to five defeats on this tour including the one-off T20. Her half century is now the fastest scored by an Indian woman in ODIs.

Player of the match: Huge surprise. It’s Amelia Kerr.

New Zealand win by 63 runs: India are now trailing 0-4 in the series. The flip side (if you could say) is that it is another match under their belt and game time ahead of the World Cup when it could have been a washout.

WICKET! Over 17.5: Rajeshwari Gayakwad 4(3) b Amelia Kerr And she has three! Missed the hat-trick because of a full toss. But eventually gets three in the over. India 128/10

WICKET! Over 17.2: Renuka Singh 0(1) b Amelia Kerr Googly again. Kerr on a hat-trick. India 124/9

WICKET! Over 17.1: Deepti Sharma 9(9) b Amelia Kerr WOW, Kerr’s day out. Again. Bowled around the leg. India 124/8

WICKET! Over 16.6: Sneh Rana 9(14) ct Rosemary Mair b Frances Mackay Another low score for Rana here, even if the game is gone. Slog, caught at short fine. India 124/7

India 117/6 after 16 overs: A life for Rana in Kerr’s over, she could have a wicket too round off her brilliant day. Missed stumping.

India 112/6 after 15 overs: A good finish here from Sneh Rana and Deepti Sharma is essential even if the match is all but done. Rana needs some runs especially.

WICKET! 13.4: Mithali Raj 30(28) b Jess Kerr Raj goes for a big shot, she misses JKerr hits. End of a handy little innings by the skipper, India were starting at a huge defeat before this little recovery. Now they have something to take from this game. India 105/6

India 102/5 after 13 overs: Mithali brings up the century for India with a six over midwicket. Just sheer timing.

WICKET! Over 12.5: Richa Ghosh 52(29) ct Amelia Kerr b Hayley Jensen OH STOP IT KERR! She is everywhere, EXHIBIT X. A superb catch from wide midwicket, running to her left and making no mistake with a skier. End of a fine, fine innings. India 96/5

HALF CENTURY: WHAT A KNOCK! Richa Ghosh gets to her fifty off just 26. The fastest ODI fifty by an Indian ever (with recorded stats). 4 fours, 4 sixes. SR 192.3

India 88/4 after 11 overs: Another six for Ghosh! Lofted over extra cover this time, Bates with a jump on the fence but over her. A four for

Need 118 from 60 balls. More than the run-chase and win itself, if they can get close from here, it can be a moral win from those four early wickets.

India 75/4 after 10 overs: Hit on the helmet by a bouncer by Mair.... break in play... next ball, after play resumes, lofted over cover for six. Richa Ghosh is having a party in Queenstown.

India 66/4 after 9 overs: ANOTHER SIX! Richa on fire. And she nearly collides with her captain as she was admiring that sail over square leg. Smiles all around.

SHOTTT!!! Richa has raced to 27 off 12 balls. Four fours and a six. The latest a brilliant sweep shot over midwicket off Mackay

India 36/4 after 6 overs (end of modified powerplay): Richa Ghosh gets going, she has raced to 13 off 6 already. Two fours off Mair.

As well as Smriti Mandhana plays the pull shot behind or front of square, opposition teams will always know that’s a wicket-taking option for them. It’s a tricky balancing act for her.

WICKET Over 4.4: Smriti Mandhana 13(15) ct Amelia Kerr b Hayley Jensen Going from bad to worse for India. Mandhana seems to have timed that well but the field placement is perfect. She plays that shot brilliantly but also does tend to fall while pulling often, actually. Kerr takes a great catch. India 19/4

India 18/3 after 4 overs: Well, a wicket-less over finally. And another well-time boundary for Mandhana through the leg side.

12/3 chasing 192 in a 20-over match... could it *be* any more tougher for India?

WICKET! Over 2.5: Pooja Vastrakar 4(5) ct Amy Satterthwaite b Hayley Jensen Going for a big shot over mid-on, no timing or elevation. India 12/3

WICKET! Over 1.4: Yastika Bhatia 0(1) ct Suzie Bates b Jess Kerr: Oh dear. Mistmed pull shot and Bates takes another lovely high catch. She makes those look easy. While we are (I am) wondering about Mandhana being rusty, India have lost Shafali Verma and Yastika Bhatia for ducks and Pooja Vastrakar is in at No 4. That escalated quickly. India 8/2

WICKET! 0.6: Shafali Verma 0(2) ct Suzie Bates b Frances Mackay Oh dear! Having a short ball weakness is one thing, but to get out to an attempted bouncer from a spinner is not ideal for Shafali! (If that was a surprise plan, well done White Ferns and Mackay, the reactions certainly seem to indicate that) India 7/1

Smriti Mandhana time. Will there be rustiness? India need her to get going straight away, chasing 192. Not ideal for her, no time to get in. (Or perhaps, ideal in the sense that she can just start going for it from the word go. We shall see)

NZ finish on 191/5 after 20 overs: A sweep for six by Amelia Kerr, another four in the final over and she finishes unbeaten on 68 off 33 balls. U.N.R.E.A.L cricketer.

WICKET! Over 19.1: Lauren Down 5(4) b Deepti Sharma Lovely, gutsy delivery from Deepti to start the final over. Down misses the sweep. New Zealand 176/5

NZ 176/4 after 19 overs: Down with a four, then Kerr with a four. Fours everywhere.

WICKET! Over 18.2: Frances Mackay 7(16) b Renuka Singh Mackay tries to scoop one behind the wicket but you-miss-I-hit says Renuka. Bowled. New Zealand 164/4

HALF CENTURY! Amelia Kerr is posing a serious threat to the non-striker here. She must be careful, NZ have only 11 fit players for this match! A 28-ball 50 for NZ’s allrounder. What a player!

NZ 163/3 after 18 overs: Kerr with another sweep for four in Gayakwad’s over. A solid dive by Rana at deep midwicket but it goes through.

NZ 156/3 after 17 overs: Amelia Kerr has been sweeping brilliantly all series and she is at it again. (She has been just batting brilliantly, so sweeping is really just a subset of that). Timing like a dream at the moment. That she hit those two fours after getting on strike thanks to a direct hit that resulted in a single for Mackay sums up India’s series so far.

NZ 145/3 after 16 overs: Good over from Gayakwad, just four singles. Mackay in the middle with Kerr.

Break in play: Meghna Singh seems to have rolled her ankle slightly, while attempting a direct hit. Harmanpreet Kaur out with red training top, tries to keep Meghna Singh in good spirits as the pacer limps off the field. She just got back into XI after extended quarantine and all that. Will be horror luck if she has to spend more time on the sidelines.

NZ 137/2 after 14 overs: Oh, stop it Amelia Kerr. A ridiculously good looking flick over midwicket for four. Amazing timing, technique... just perfect. 4-0-45-1 for Meghna Singh today, a tough outing on her return to the side. But hopefully the rhythm gets better with more game time.

WICKET! 13.4: Amy Satterthwaite 32(16) b Meghna Singh 4-4-OUT A sensational innings from Amy Satterthwaite comes to an end on 32 off 16 balls. Some respite for Meghna Singh as her change of angle works. Bowled. New Zealand 132/3

NZ 124/2 after 13 overs: 4-4 for Amelia Kerr in Sneh Rana’s over. 6-6-4 for Amy Satterthwaite in Deepti Sharma’s over. It’s a run-fest for White Ferns. That four was a big error by Mandhana in the deep, a rare sight but the two sixes over midwicket were just superbly timed.

NZ 105/2 after 11 overs: Two fours for Amelia Kerr in Sneh Rana’s over. Both lapped over the keeper’s head. NZ are on fire.

NZ 95/2 after 11 overs: Kerr continues to bat like she has just been batting all month. Steady over from Deepti though, no boundaries.

NZ 89/2 after 10, India need to pull things back here.

WICKET! 9.2: Suzie Bates 41(26) st Richa Ghosh b Rajeshwari Gayakwad Sharp glovework! Gayakwad gets the wicket after all. Richa Ghosh with the stumping (or a run out?) Bates didn’t know where the ball was after an inside edge, Ghosh alert. Not much damage from the dropped catch. New Zealand 84/2

NZ 80/1 after 9 overs: Oh dear, for the second time in this series Rajeshwari Gayakwad puts down a catch offered by Suzie Bates. This one really can’t get any easier, really good ball from Deepti to start her spell, forcing a false sweep with win one that drifted wide. Grassed at short midwicket.

Last time it happened, Bates scored a century. Kerr with a four in that over.

NZ 71/1 after 8 overs: Kerr with a nice late cut for four to start Gayakwad’s over.

NZ 65/1 after 7 overs: Suzie Bates continues to go on her merry way. Three straight fours off Pooja Vastrakar’s over, one of them really should have been stopped.

WICKET! Over 5.6: Sophie Devine 32(24) ct Smriti Mandhana b Renuka Singh WHAT A STUNNING CATCH! Just as we were saying earlier, Mandhana is a cut above most fielders in world cricket and shows it there. Devine cut it hard, it was nearly behind Mandhana at point but she flies to her left and holds on. Stung her palms, that’s for sure. New Zealand 53/1

Ramesh Powar had said after the previous match that the bowlers need more time to get into rhythm after a long time without proper game time. It is even more true for Meghna Singh and Renuka Singh, who are playing their first and second matches respectively.

NZ 42/0 after 5 overs: Stunning stop at point for Smriti Mandhana and it is another area she will help India improve. Saves a certain boundary, appreciation from all her teammates. But Devine still helps herself to two boundaries in the over through leg side, punishing Meghna when she goes straight. Third four to finish the over, over midoff. Devine on song.

NZ 30/0 after 4 overs: A flurry of boundaries early on for New Zealand’s openers. Sophie Devine looking in great touch here for her side, timing one brilliantly past the deep point fielder for four. Sheer class. Otherwise another solid over from Renuka. That’s the end of the first powerplay.

NZ 23/0 after 3 overs: Nice shape away from the batters in that over from Meghna, gets a couple of outside edges that don’t result in chances though. Devine and Bates just getting deceived by late movement. But Bates finishes that over with a four.

NZ 14/0 after 2 overs: Solid first over from Renuka, good length on the channel. A boundary saved in that over with good fielding at cover.

As mentioned earlier on the pre-match shows, the boundaries are pulled in a bit further today from the previous matches. This is a larger playing area, mind you, than most NZ venues. So this will be closer to what the teams will face in the the tournament.

New Zealand 11/0 after 1 over: A delightful drive past mid-off and then a full toss put away through mdiwicket. Two fours for Devine in the first over. Evident rustiness for Meghna, of course.

Here we go, Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine in the middle. And we will see Meghna Singh for the first time on this tour.

Correction to BCCI’s previous tweet: Five changes, as Renuka Singh was already in the XI from the previous match

Confirmed XIs:

NZ: Suzie Bates, Sophie Devine (c), Amelia Kerr, Amy Satterthwaite, Lauren Down, Katey Martin (wk), Frankie Mackay, Hayley Jensen, Hannah Rowe, Rosemary Mair, Jess Kerr

India: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Yastika Bhatia, Mithali Raj (c), Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Sneh Rana, Renuka Singh Thakur, Meghna Singh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad

New Zealand by the way have only 11 fully fit players to choose from their 15 for this match (Lea Tahuhu can field if needed).

TEAM NEWS: Well. Smriti Mandhana comes back into the XI for this 20-over match but the T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur is absent. We did see the toss, but nothing was said about that particular change by the captain, just the fact that the players are returning from quarantine and available for selection. No Jhulan Goswami either. S Meghana, Ekta Bisht, Taniya Bhatia sit out as well. Richa Ghosh and Pooja Vastrakar are back, Meghna Singh plays too.

TOSS NEWS: (Yes, we have a game!) Mithali Raj opts to bowl first. A 20-over match, the Indian captain says it is important to be prepared for such a situation in WC (Important point that, could easily happen in the tournament and it crucial to be ready). And Smriti Mandhana is back.

TOSS UPDATE: Bit of cloud around...apparently bit confusion with the covers and now we are apparently left with 15 minutes for the toss to happen or match will be called off...

Look who’s here as well, India fans:

07.10 am: Update via broadcasters. The inspection went well. The covers are off, the stumps are in place... toss at 7.40 am IST, a 20-over match starting at 8.10 am IST.

06.55 am: If we do get a 20-over match, it might be a return to T20-format (sort of) for Mithali Raj and Jhulan Gosawmi. (WT20C there too, but in Indian colours it’s been a while!)

More from Meg Lanning (and a significant point if you are reading this from an Indian perspective)

The Women’s Big Bash League in particular has provided a really nice platform for younger players to be exposed to different scenarios and pressure situations.

We’ve seen with our young kids coming in, Darcie Brown, Tahlia McGrath and others, they don’t look overawed by the situation, which I think the WBBL has played a really big role in that.

Rain-delay reading:

“A lot of our players were involved in that 2017 World Cup, which didn’t quite end the way we would have liked and I think since then we’ve changed the way we approach and play our cricket....”

Meg Lanning column: Streak-ending defeat against India reinforced we need to play our best cricket

06.40 am: “It’s actually warmed up now,” we are told. Another inspection scheduled in 30 mins from now. But things are looking up it would seem. The plan, apparently, would be to have toss in an hour from now and start a 20-over match in 90 minutes (8.10 am IST) if things go well.

06.15 am: Another inspection in 15 minutes.

06.06 am: The play has to start by 3.40 pm local time for a 20-over match and we are a couple of hours from that. The sun is starting to peek out a little and some players are out and about in the middle.

05.57 am: Activity in the middle but apparently still raining. Umbrellas still up. Might not be long now I guess. The commentators seem to agree that it doesn’t look promising for even a 20-over game.

05.54 am: 20 minutes later than the photo below, there are more staff in the middle and there is a bit more activity.

A White Ferns documentary to watch (from last year) to get some great glimpses into the behind-the-scenes work:

05.30 am: The groundstaff were seen working on the covers... probably a good sign there.

05.08 am: Live picture from Queenstown. The commentator says the rain cleared for just a little bit but is back again.

04.00 am: The forecast doesn’t look too good, folks. (Check updates for Otago on weather.com).

3.50 am: We have had some stunning views from Queenstown during this series so far... these are not those. Looks pretty gloomy.

As we wait for better updates from Queenstown... here’s some reading for you, if you are a follower of the BCCI’s social media handle for women’s cricket on Twitter (Facebook / Instagram), here’s a feature on Scroll.in on how, perhaps, a little more could be done apart from just updates during a match with a World Cup around the corner.

Some squad update from White Ferns: Brooke Halliday unavailable for remaining ODIs because of isolation due to Covid-19 close contact Lea Tahuhu, Maddy Green and Fran Jonas are unavailable for 4th ODI. Tahuhu had worryingly limped off the field due to a hamstring issue but came out to bat later and NZC says she will be available as a sub fielder if needed, which is a good sign for her.

More here.

03.05 am: Not what you’d want to see anytime in a cricket match but especially when you have to set an alarm for 3 am to wake up!

03.00 am: Hello and welcome to the live coverage of New Zealand vs India, the fourth of five ODIs. A one-sided battle in the first, a thriller of a second match, and another high-scoring third... now can Mithali Raj & Co begin bounce back after three defeats so far in this series in Queenstown? The World Cup draws ever closer and the good news for India is the likely availability of a full-strength squad to choose from.

New Zealand vs India, 1st ODI as it happened: Mithali’s knock in vain as White Ferns win by 62 runs

New Zealand vs India 2nd ODI highlights: Amelia Kerr scores classy ton as NZ clinch thriller

New Zealand vs India 3rd ODI highlights: Record run-chase by White Ferns as they clinch series 3-0

Screenshots in the blog courtesy: Amazon Prime