Women’s T20 World Cup: What happened the last time India played New Zealand in the Marquee event?

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The Indian women’s cricket team is all set to take on New Zealand in their first match of the T20 World Cup in Dubai on Friday. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who is likely to feature in her last edition of the marquee event, has witnessed several near-misses and disappointing close-range moments, including India’s capitulation to Australia in the final in Melbourne in 2020.

It was during the 2020 T20 World Cup itself that India last faced New Zealand. In the 2023 edition of the tournament, the two teams were in separate groups and the Kiwis were unable to qualify for the semi-finals.

India won all their matches in the tournament, from the group stage matches to the semi-finals, but fell badly short against hosts Australia in the final.

India were put into bat first by New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine. They lost Smriti Mandhana in just the third over (b Lea Tahuhu for 11), but Shafali Verma and Taniya Bhatia added 51 runs for the second wicket to take India to a comfortable position.

But after Bhatiya was dismissed in the third over, India could no longer build partnerships and managed a paltry 133/8 in their twenty overs. Shafali remained the highest scorer with a 34-ball 46, while Rosemary Mair and Amelia Kerr picked two wickets each.

In the chase, New Zealand were reduced to 34/3 in the 10th over before Maddy Green and Katey Martin added 43 runs for the fourth wicket to take the Kiwis to safety. After the latter departed in the 17th, Kerr and Hayley Jensen had the responsibility of pulling their team through.

16 runs were needed in the final over and Jensen batted Shikha Pandey for a boundary off the first ball. The comparison came to 12 out of five and three singles followed to make it nine out of two.

Kerr then hit the penultimate delivery for another boundary and the equation was five off the last ball. But Pandey bowled a brilliant yorker and the Kiwis got a leg bye. The drama didn’t end there as Jensen tried to run for two and was exhausted at the end of the rush.

India managed to pull off a stunning victory over New Zealand by just three points and advanced to the semi-finals.