NZ Women vs IND Women, 3rd ODI at Ahmedabad, IND Women vs NZ Women, Oct 29 2024 - Ball by Ball Commentary

A comfortable win for the hosts in the decider. They will host the forthcoming ODI World Cup, so they had gained automatic qualification. But this was a much needed series win after the T20 World Cup. New Zealand will look to regroup ahead of their home summer, and reflect on what have been a historic past few weeks. India too, will have a break, but there is lots of cricket going around, so hope to see you on the site. Thanks for joining in. Take care.

Harmanpreet Kaur collects the series trophy and then goes to her team-mates to celebrate their victory. Mishra and Thakor are handed the trophy, they hold it aloft behind the WINNERS tag. Smiles around as the support staff join in

Deepti Sharma, POTS: I enjoy myself in the field. I kept belief in myself. You have to come back after a tough game. I knew I could do better, had faith in myself. I have slowed down my pace due to the wicket demanding that. I tried to make changes according to the batter and my strength. Mindset will be the same going forward, hope to do well

Harmanpreet Kaur, India captain: Pleased with the result. As I said in the morning, we discussed a lot of things. Happy we executed them today. Whenever we are playing, we want to give 100%. Sometimes, it doesn't go your way. You have to think what is your job, role. Even though we lost badly lost game, we were confident we could pull it off today. I should give credit to Smriti. She was struggling but she managed to score well. It was important as we wanted to win the series at any cost. Happy we had that partnership and got through. (What next?) I'm always talking about fielding, as a team we have to keep working hard. We want to become the best fielding team

Smriti Mandhana, POTM: Really pleased to get the series win. It's been a tough one and half months. First two matches didn't go my way. Was pumped to go well today. The control was the more important thing today. You don't bat the same everyday but need to get runs for the team regardless. I had to play within myself in the first ten overs and then get going. Sometimes, for me what works is the harder way. First thing first, you have to put team first. That thought keeps me up at night. What works is getting up the next day and doing it again, which gets tough during times of failure. So, you gotta keep the routine the same.

Sophie Devine, New Zealand captain: I'm incredibly proud of the group, we've lost one of our best players. The fact we took a strong India side to the decider I'm proud of. Now we'll get some rest. Mandhana was brilliant. Halliday was excellent battling the heat. We're building trust that if we lose early wickets, we can still get a good score. Players are showing intent, put themselves out there in tough conditions. We took the blueprint from the WC. Pretty sure Tahuhu's bowling on one leg. The new spinners have shown resilience. The wicket slid on with dew, we weren't good enough today. We'll go home, reflect, resume in the next series

8:36pm: A clinical chase from India thanks to Mandhana and Harman. The opener was unfazed. Yastika Bhatia supported her well. New Zealand rotated their bowlers around but Amelia Kerr's absence was felt. Jonas wasn't at her best. Devine dismissed Yastika but Harman, the new batter, and Mandhana carried on with ease. The 117-run stand for the third wicket ensured there was no way back for the visitors.