ODI series: India women win opener as New Zealand falter in chase

From the high of their maiden T20 World Cup win, New Zealand women came crashing down after India notched up a 59-run victory in the first one-day international match in Ahmedabad on Thursday.

Though visitor's spinners had restricted the home side, led by Smriti Mandhana, to a below-par 227, they could stitch together a decent partnership as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

Left-arm spinner Radha Yadav was the pick of the bowlers. She took three wickets for 35 runs in her 8.4-over spell. Debutant Saima Thakor took 2, while Deepti Sharma and Arundhati Reddy bagged a wicket each. Three runouts, including that of captain Sophie Devine, also did not help Kiwis' cause.

Amelia Kerr, who came down the order due to injury, was stranded in the end with a fighting 25 of 23 balls as her team was all out for 168.

Earlier, Kerr and her elder sister Jess Kerr kept India in check, taking seven wickets between them. India's second debutant, Tejal Hasabnis, shone with the bat and top-scored with 42 (of 64 balls). 

The second and third matches of the series will be played on Sunday and October 29, respectively.

Brief scores: India 227 (Hasabnis 42, Deepti 41, Shafali Verma 33, Jemimah Rodrigues 35, Yastika Bhatia 37, Amelia Kerr 4-42, Jess Kerr 3-49) beat New Zealand 168 (Halliday 39, Green 31, Radha Yadav 3-35, Saima Thakor 2-26) by 59 runs.