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Priest leads Kiwis to T20 series win against Indian eves
Bengaluru: Rachel Priest (60, 34b, 10×4, 2×6) powered New Zealand to a thumping six-wicket win over India to help the visitors take an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match women’s T20 series, here on Monday.
As in the previous game, the Indian batting fell apart as the hosts were pegged to 136 for six in their 20 overs with Vanitha Vellaswamy (41, 39b, 4×4) being the lead scorer. In reply, the Kiwis made 139 for four in 17.5 overs despite losing skipper Suzie Bates to the second ball of their innings.
The Indians never really recovered from a poor start that saw skipper and opener Mithali Raj (1) and Latika Kumari (4) falling by the second over.
Vanitha and Harmanpreet Kaur (30, 28b, 6×4) led a brief recovery with a 47-run partnership, but the Indians lost wickets at regular intervals thereafter to be restricted to a modest total with Veda Krishnamurthy (29) chipping in usefully at the tail-end of the innings.
The Kiwis too were off to a poor start as they were reduced to 19 for two, but with Priest blasting away, the visitors recovered quickly. Priest and Leigh Kasperek (15) added 71 runs for the third wicket and the partnership turned the game around.
Though both Kasperek and Priest departed in quick succession, Amy Satterthwaite (24 not out) and Katie Perkins (23 not out) put on 47 runs for the unfinished fifth wicket to carry Kiwis home.
The two teams meet again in the third and final match of the series on Wednesday at the same venue before the Kiwis round off their tour of India, who won the recent One-Day International (ODI) series 3-2.
Brief scores:
India 136 for 6 in 20 overs (Vanitha Vellaswamy 41, Harmanpreet Kaur 30, Veda Krishnamurthy 29, Sophie Devine 2 for 31) lost to New Zealand 139 for 4 in 17.5 overs (Rachel Priest 60, Amy Satterthwaite 24 not out, Katie Perkins 23 not out, Jhulan Goswami 2 for 29).
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.