Spinners, Krishnamurthy lead India to consolation win

India Women 128 for 7 (Krishnamurthy 34, Vanitha 28, Devine 2-13) beat New Zealand Women 126 for 8 (Bates 34, Gayakwad 3-17) by three wickets
Scorecard

India's spinners pulled New Zealand back from a strong start to set up a chase of 127, which was achieved in 19 overs with three wickets remaining for a consolation win. The visitors took the three-match series 2-1.

New Zealand's top order came hard at the hosts after being asked to bat. Suzie Bates hit 34 off 27 deliveries while Rachel Priest and Sophie Devine hit a few quick boundaries. New Zealand had raced to 59 for 1 in the sixth over when left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad dismissed Devine.

Bates and Amy Satterthwaite fell to legspinner Poonam Yadav in successive overs. The regular fall of wickets meant New Zealand stalled, managing only 5 for 42 in the last half of the innings. Gayakwad picked up three wickets while Ekta Bisht and Yadav had two apiece.

Vellaswamy Vanitha (28) and Latika Kumari built the base for the chase with a second-wicket stand of 45 in six overs. Leigh Kasperek and Kate Broadmore hit back to reduce India to 73 for 4 in ten overs but Veda Krishnamurthy launched a boundary blitz, hitting six fours to make 34 off 19.

Anuja Patil (22) guided India after Krishnamurthy fell to Devine before the pair of Sushma Verma and Bisht took the hosts home.