Dubai, Oct 4 (IANS) Skipper Sophie Devine took charge in the back-end with an unbeaten 36-ball 57 and carried New Zealand to 160/4 against India in a Group A match of the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup at the Dubai International Stadium on Friday. If the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side manages to chase down 161, it will set a new record for the highest successful run chase in the history of the tournament.

After Suzie Bates and Georgia Plimmer gave a brilliant start through a 67-run partnership, Sophie got New Zealand the strong finish they always looked for by hitting seven boundaries – mixed with sheer power and good placement – at a strike rate of 158.33.

India had a decent time with the ball after New Zealand elected to bat first in cooler conditions, but their fielding shortcomings came to the fore yet again.

New Zealand’s opening pair of Suzie and Georgia were positive in their approach - walking down the pitch and piercing gaps to find boundaries. While Suzie took two fours off Pooja Vastrakar, Georgia smacked a four and six off Deepti Sharma.

Georgia took two fours off Arundhati Reddy in the final over of Power-play, while Suzie survived on 18 when Richa Ghosh couldn’t hold on to the top edge off her bat. The superb 67-run opening stand ended when Suzie didn’t time her slog off Arundhati and found deep mid-wicket.

One brought two for India as Georgia came down the pitch to loft Asha Sobhana, but holed out to long-on. Despite Sophie Devine hitting consecutive fours off Asha’s short balls, India managed to stem the run-flow.

Amelia Kerr got a reprieve on 13 when her run-out at the striker’s end was deemed a dead ball by on-field umpires, with Harmanpreet, Smriti Mandhana and Amol Muzumdar having lengthy discussions with them and the fourth umpire. Replays showed Amelia was run out while attempting a second run, just after the umpire returned Deepti her cap at the non-striker's end.

But in the next over, Amelia went for a cut on the bowling of Renuka Singh Thakur and picked out a diving Pooja at extra cover. Sophie continued to find boundaries with ease – a straight drive and cut of Renuka got her back-to-back fours, followed by going deep in the crease to pull Shreyanka for another boundary.

Brooke Halliday was inventive in getting a brace of fours via reverse sweep and sweep before giving a catch to extra cover off Renuka. Sophie gave New Zealand a strong finish with a pull off Deepti for four, followed by getting her fifty with a carve over mid-off against Shreyanka fetching her another boundary.

India was forced to have only three fielders outside the 25-yard circle due to an over-rate penalty in the last over also worked in New Zealand’s favour as 21 runs came off the last two overs.

Brief scores:

New Zealand 160/4 in 20 overs (Sophie Devine 57 not out, Georgia Plimmer 34; Renuka Singh Thakur 2-27) against India