New Zealand 272 for 7 (Bates 122, Rolls 58, Dimri 2 for 57) beat India 181 for 8 (Raj 31, Mason 3-36, Browne 2-27) by 91 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Suzie Bates's maiden one-day hundred helped New Zealand beat India by 91 runs and enter the final of the Women's Quadrangular © GNNphoto
New Zealand bounced back from Wednesday's defeat against Australia to beat India by 91 runs at Chepauk, winning a bonus point and ensuring themselves a place in the final of the Quadrangular tournament.
India looked out of depth as New Zealand first racked up an imposing total of 272, led by Suzie Bates's maiden ODI hundred, and then strangled any meaningful response from the Indian batsmen.
India's ouster by New Zealand from the top of the table, where they had spent only a day, means they have to beat Australia in their deciding match on Saturday to secure a place in the final on March 5. Australia won their match against England today and are now second in the table, with 14 points to India's 13.
Bates was the star performer for New Zealand, making 122 from 134 balls and compiling century partnerships with Haidee Tiffen, her captain, and Rebecca Rolls, the wicketkeeper. She started slowly, needing six overs to record her first run and taking seven more to reach double figures, but once she had found her rhythm she began to cut the Indian seamers regularly to the point boundary. Indeed, the Indian seamers, who did well against England in yesterday's match at the same venue, were wayward today; Amita Sharma followed up her career-best 4 for 16 by going for 24 runs in her three overs.
The Indian spinners, Preeti Dimri and Nooshin Al Khadeer, were the most expensive of the bowlers who finished their 10-over quota. Dimri, though, finally made the breakthrough with her left-arm wrist-spin, bowling Bates as she attempted to hit over the legside field in the slog overs. Dimri also had Rolls stumped for 58, while Khadeer - a right-arm offbreak bowler who missed two matches due to a finger injury - looked out of touch and her only wicket, that of Tiffen caught at short third man, was due to a poor shot.
Despite losing these wickets, New Zealand scored 85 runs in their last 10 overs, thanks to some sharp running - Bates, Tiffen and Rolls kept the run-rate above four an over - and some listless Indian fielding. The fielders leaked several runs in misfields and poor attempts at saving boundaries. Tiffen was dropped on 6 off the bowling of Goswami, an error that cost India dear as she went on to add 101 runs with Bates for the second wicket. India also missed some run-out chances which, if converted, would have meant a much smaller target to chase.
The Indian openers, Jaya Sharma and Karuna Jain, with two century partnerships in this tournament, added another useful 52-run partnership, but the New Zealand bowlers did not allow either of them, especially Sharma, to score freely. India added only 20 runs in their second two Powerplays between overs 11 and 20, where New Zealand had managed 51.
Helen Watson and Nicola Browne, New Zealand's medium-pacers, were instrumental in strangling India's ambitions. Browne picked up two wickets - Sharma, trapped lbw for 29 and Sunetra Paranjpe, caught behind for 4 late in the innings - while Watson remained wicketless but conceded a miserly 17 runs in her ten overs. This set the stage for the offspinner, Aimee Mason, and the medium pace of Sarah Burke to remove the top and middle order and see to it that India wouldn't even reach 218 - a score that would have deprived New Zealand of a bonus point.
India might come to rue their decision to drop Anjum Chopra, the former captain with 2413 runs in her 103 ODIs, in favour of Paranjpe. According to Mithali Raj, the current captain, Paranjpe was picked over Chopra for her allround capabilities. But her four runs came from 18 balls and did not bowl at all.