Day 7 Talking Points CWC22: Kerr dominates India, Vastrakar yorkers hit the mark
New Zealand v India
Seddon Park, Hamilton- 10 March 2022
M8 Match Highlights: New Zealand v India
Amelia Kerr entered the match having scored 394 runs in eight ODI innings against India, at a remarkable average of 78.80 with three half-centuries and a hundred.
The young gun added another half-century to that tally as she again dominated the Indian bowlers before playing and missing with a sweep to be out LBW when on 50.
Amelia's innings was full of class as she worked the ball around at ease while also hitting five boundaries.
Amelia Kerr continues her strong form against India
She followed up the brilliant batting performance with an equally impressive showing with the ball. Though she was expensive with it, she broke the back of India's middle-order with three wickets.
She picked up the wickets of Mithali Raj and Richa Ghosh off consecutive deliveries to dent India's hopes of a fightback. And just went Harmanpreet Kaur had started to tee off in the death, she snared the prized scalp to put the final nail in the coffin.
The 21-year-old all-rounder looks set to be one of the stars of CWC22, while her form will go a long way to deciding how deep hosts New Zealand can go. India will be pleased they won’t have to face Amelia at least until the stakes are much higher in the tournament.
Pooja Vastrakar was the pick of the Indian bowlers and played a crucial role in getting her team back into the match after an ominous start from the New Zealand batters.
The medium-pacer picked up the key wicket of Amy Satterthwaite for 75 in the 43rd over with New Zealand on 224 runs and looking like they might push close to the 300-mark.
While the White Ferns’ wickets continued to fall from there, Vastrakar later bowled two brilliant yorkers to dismiss Lea Tahuhu and Jess Kerr on consecutive balls.
The 22-year-old reaffirmed how dangerous her yorker can be when hitting the mark again while on a hat-trick.
Pooja Vastrakar hits the spot with hat-trick ball
Every time New Zealand needed a wicket, Lea Tahuhu answered the call.
Jess Kerr landed the opening blow in the innings by dismissing Smriti Mandhana but the wicket of Deepti Sharma on the last ball of the Powerplay ensured India had to play cautiously, which eventually had a bearing on the result of the match.
Tahuhu then broke the partnership between Yastika Bhatia and Mithali Raj, dismissing the former before scalping Sneh Rana, one of India's heroes in the first game, to peg them back further.
Wicket: Tahuhu induces the edge off Rana
With six wickets, she is currently the joint leading wicket-taker of the tournament and New Zealand will hope she can continue her form going forward.