Mithali Raj & Co Jump to Number 2 Position in ICC Women's Championship Post Crushing New Zealand by 8 Wickets

The Men in Blue are already dominating the opponents with a series of blistering performances. Like Virat Kohli and men, even the Women in Blue have made India proud by beat New Zealand by 8 wickets earlier today at the Oval Bay in Mount Maunganui. With this win, Mithali Raj and company have clinched the series 2-0 and thus have climbed on the ICC Women’s Championship with 12 points in their kitty.  It was Mithali Raj and Smriti Mandhana’s knock of 63 and 90 respectively that led India to victory. India vs New Zealand Women's 2nd ODI 2019: Mithali Raj and Smriti Mandhana Power India to Clinch Series.

The team was supported by an amazing bowling performance from the veteran cricketer Jhulan Goswami who snapped three wickets after giving away 23 runs. She bowled for 8.2 overs and also had a couple of maidens. Ekta Bisht, Deepti Sharma and Poonam Yadav shared a couple of wickets each. The Kiwis got bundled out on the score of 162 runs. Whereas, Shikha Pandey got one wicket. With this result, it was quite obvious for the women’s team to leapfrog New Zealand. This was India's sixth win, the same as New Zealand, but Mithali's team is marginally ahead of the White Ferns on the net run rate (0.611).

Even the official account of the BCCI hailed the Women in Blue.

However, Mithali Raj wants her team to aim for a clean sweep the series and continue the momentum. “When you have a good run, you would want to continue it. We are definitely looking for 3-0," Mithali said during the post-match interview.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 29, 2019 03:40 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).