India eves suffer 18-run defeat to New Zealand

India’s Richa Ghosh is bowled by New Zealand’s Sophie Devine on Wednesday. Pic/Getty Images

Batting let India down as they suffered an 18-run defeat to hosts New Zealand in the one-off women's T20I here on Wednesday.

Senior opener and vice-captain Smriti Mandhana did not play and her absence was felt badly as India fell short by 18 runs while chasing 156 for a win.

Rookie Yastika Bhatia, who opened in place of Mandhana along with young Shafali Verma, did reasonably well with a run-a-ball 26 (2x4; 1x6), but India never looked like they could chase down the target against an impressive New Zealand bowling attack.

The opening stand was worth 41 runs in 6.3 overs and that was the highest partnership for India.

Brief scores
NZ 155-5 (S Bates 36, S Devine 31; P Vastrakar 2-16, D Sharma 2-26) beat India 137-8 (S Meghana 37; J Kerr 2-20, A Kerr 2-25, H Jensen 2-25) by 18 runs

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