Smriti, Pratika help India beat NZ, seal semis berth

The batting heroics of ‘Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal and Jemimah Rodrigues gave India an advantage that they did not relinquish in their all-important ICC Women's ODI World Cup game against New Zealand at the DY Patil Stadium on Thursday.

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Powered by hundreds from their openers and a statement-making unbeaten 76 (55 balls) from local player Jemimah, the home side scored 340 runs to dominate their penultimate league match from the word go and romp home to a 53-run win (by DLS method) and power into the semifinals of the tournament.

India have three wins ahead of their final group game against Bangladesh. And NZ, even if they win on Sunday against England, will only get up to two wins.

Sri Lanka, the other team on six points, has just one win ahead of their final game. And, according to tournament rules, the number of wins takes precedence over NRR.

There were two rain breaks towards the end of the first half of the game but when they gathered in a huddle waiting for the play to resume, the Indian women were all smiles and cracking jokes, knowing well that they had given themselves the best chance of advancing.

Having lost just three wickets on way to a total of 340, the DLS method calculation was going to favour the home side.