Women's World Cup: Top order has to fire - Batting coach Shiv Sundar Das

Indian opener Yastika Bhatia (centre) walks back to the pavilion as NZ players celebrate her dismissal during the women’s World Cup tie. Pic/AFP

Indian batting coach Shiv Sundar Das on Thursday said rotation of strike is a cause of worry and they might have to rethink the team's batting order following its 62-run defeat against New Zealand in the ICC women's World Cup.

Chasing 261, India failed to capitalise on the power play with the top order boasting experienced duo of Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma alongside rookie Yastika Bhatia failing to fire as India were all out for 198 in 46.4 overs to concede a 62-run defeat.

Indian batting coach Shiv Sundar Das

India have now slipped to fifth among eight teams after this defeat while New Zealand, with two wins from three games, are now second behind Australia in the overall standings.

Pooja shines

Pooja Vastrakar's 4 for 34 in 10 overs and Harmanpreet Kaur's 71 off 62 balls were two isolated performances which hardly made any impact on the larger outcome.

While Vastrakar's four-for could still be credited for stopping New Zealand's total from going north of 280, Harmanpreet's runs might just help her regain confidence for the coming games.

Amelia Kerr (50 and 3-56 in 9 overs), one half of the famous Kerr sisters, first laid the platform with a solid half-century and then breached the defences of rival skipper Mithali Raj (31 off 56 balls) with a flighted delivery.

"The top order has to fire. We have the batting firepower to go deeper in the tournament. Looking at the top order, once you get going in the 10-15 overs, you can put up a good score," Das said in the post-match media interaction.

With three southpaws in the top-order, the White Ferns gave the new ball to off-spinner Frances Mackay and she returned with a tidy 8-1-25-0.

The inexperienced Yastika struggled to rotate the strike in her 59-ball 28, while Smriti and (6 from 21 balls ) and Deepti (5 from 13 balls) were equally slow as India made just 50 runs in 19.1 overs.

Inexperienced Yastika

"The strike rotation is a worry for us. The top order had has to fire. We have an experience top-order with Smriti batting. We thought, we can get some runs. Maybe we have to rethink about it [the batting order] in the next game," Das said. The 44-year-old from Odisha, however, defended the decision to open with the inexperienced Yastika, who was promoted to the top in place of the out-of-form Shafali Varma.

"We have seen in practice matches that she is a good batter. She has just played one game, hope she will come good in the next matches."

On Shafali's exclusion, Das said: "She has got a fair chance in seven-eight games. We needed to give her a break. She's a talented batter. Hope she gets going in this break and comes back stronger."

The Mithali-led side will next face the West Indies on Saturday. "The focus is on the first 10-15 overs. We have the experience and the ability. We just have to express ourselves," Das said. "We have to give credit to New Zealand, they bowled well with a tight line."

Brief scores
New Zealand 260-9 (A Satterthwaite 75, A Kerr 50; P Vastrakar 4-34) beat India 198 in 46.4 overs (H Kaur 71, M Raj 31; L Tahuhu 3-17, A Kerr 3-56) by 62 runs

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