CWC 2022 IND W vs NZ W Preview: Mithali and Co's ultimate Kiwi challenge

ICC Women's World Cup Preview: India Women take on New Zealand Women in their second World Cup encounter. Earlier they defeated Pakistan in their first match by a huge margin of 107 runs.

The Indian Women's team, fresh from the resounding 107 run win against Pakistan Women in their opening Women's Cricket World Cup 2022 game, will now take on the hosts and one of the favourites for the tournament, New Zealand in their second encounter at the Seddon Park in Hamilton. While Mithai Raj and Co no doubt are oozing with confidence, they have a lot of challenges to overcome to finally get past the Ultimate Kiwi challenge. 

Why is this the ultimate Kiwi challenge?

The Indian Women's team was beaten by New Zealand in four out of the five games it played in a five-match ODI series just ahead of the World Cup. The White Ferns, having lost their opening encounter by just three runs against West Indies, could not afford yet another lap in concentration and after their comfortable nine-wicket win against Bangladesh, would look to keep their campaign on the right track when they face India.

Thus, the Indian team is probably going to face the strongest New Zealand team, not only in terms of players but also in terms of confidence, mindset and resolve to win the match. 

India Women battling needs planning

India WOmen's batting efforts against Pakistan looked rather lopsided and if it wasn't for the record-breaking seventh-wicket partnership between Sneh Rana and Pooja Vastrakar, the women in blue might have found themselves struggling to get the victory. Hence, the likes of Shafali Verma, Harmanpreet Kaur and Mithali Raj need to take control of the situation and make sure that it doesn't fall upon Pooja and Rana once again to sort things out for India. 

Sophie Devine: New Zealand's prized asset

Sophie Devine, the New Zealand WOmen captain has been in red hot form and thus she becomes India's number one challenge and New Zealand's most prized asset in the game. Devine though missed out against Bangladesh, but her one-woman show against West Indies almost won her team the game. Her form in crunch situations has always been one to be admired of. And the batters to follow after her could be equally frustrating for India as well. 

India W vs New Zealand W Seddon Park Pitch Report

The pitch at Seddon Park in Hamilton has been good for chasing as the last seven ODIs have been won by the team chasing the total. Even in three ODIs played by Women's teams, the teams chasing have won twice. It's a hard wicket that offers the initial swing as apparent on all venues in New Zealand. But later on, it flattens out and becomes easy for batting. Thus a team winning the toss would look to chase. 

Ind W vs NZ W Hamilton Weather Update

The biggest weather update from Hamilton is that there are no chances of rain and the game would be played uninterrupted. The temperatures would also be akin to the subcontinent at this time of the year as they would hover between 27 Degree Celcius to 18 Degree Celcius from 02:00 pm to 10:00 pm Local Time, the timing for the match. 

CWC India vs New Zealand: What did they say?

Jhulan Goswami, India Women

"Shafali has already proved herself. She is a very exciting cricketer. But these things happen with every cricketer. I am sure she is working hard really well in the nets, she is batting well in the nets; she is hitting the ball really well. She is just one big knock away and if she gets an opportunity, I am sure she is going to do well," said senior India player Jhulan Goswami in her pre-match virtual press conference. 

India Women vs New Zealand Women Head to Head

Format	Matches	IND Women Won	NZ Women Won	Tied
ODIs Overall	53	20	32	01
In World Cup (ODIs)	11	02	08	01

India Women Predicted Playing 11

Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Mithali Raj (capt), Harmanpreet Kaur (vc), Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Jhulan Goswami, Meghna Singh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Sneh Rana/ Poonam Yadav

New Zealand Women Predicted Playing 11

Sophie Devine (c), Suzie Bates, Amelia Kerr, Amy Satterthwaite, Maddy Green, Frances Mackay, Katey Martin (wk), Hayley Jensen, Lea Tahuhu, Jess Kerr, Hannah Rowe

India Women Squad CWC 2022

Mithali Raj (capt), Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-capt) Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Taniya Bhatia, Sneh Rana, Pooja Vastrakar, Jhulan Goswami, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh Thakur, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad

Travelling reserves: S Meghana, Ekta Bisht, Simran Dil Bahadur

New Zealand Women Squad CWC 2022

Sophie Devine (c), Suzie Bates, Amelia Kerr, Amy Satterthwaite, Maddy Green, Frances Mackay, Katey Martin (wk), Hayley Jensen, Lea Tahuhu, Jess Kerr, Hannah Rowe, Brooke Halliday, Fran Jonas, Rosemary Mair, Georgia Plimmer