Skipper Mithali’s 59 goes in vain as Indians lose 1st ODI

Mithali Raj

Skipper Mithali Raj's well-crafted half-century went in vain as Indian batting flopped once again with the visitors losing the first ODI against New Zealand by 62 runs here on Saturday.

Opting to bowl, New Zealand rode on Suzie Bates century (106 off 111 balls) to score a challenging 275 and India were all-out in the last over for 213 in 49.4 overs and never for once looked like being in the chase.

Mithali, 39, playing her 221st ODI, continued her dream form in the format - seven fifties in the last 11 innings in ODIs - to keep India in the hunt with a 73-ball 59 (6x4).

Mithali also joined Charlotte Edwards in making 1,000 runs against four different teams - Australia, England, Sri Lanka and New Zealand - in ODI cricket.

She also became the first Indian to reach 1000 women's ODI runs against New Zealand.

Brief scores
New Zealand 275 in 48.1 overs (S Bates 106, A Satterthwaite 63; R Gayakwad 2-28, D Sharma 2-47) beat India 213 in 49.4 overs (M Raj 59, Y Bhatia 41; J Kerr 4-35, H Jensen 2-36) by 62 runs

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