New Zealand bat, India hand debut to legspinner Priya Mishra

Toss New Zealand chose to bat vs India

New Zealand captain Sophie Devine opted to bat first in the second ODI against India in Ahmedabad. The visitors made two changes to the side which had lost the first ODI on Thursday, although one of them was forced. Spin-bowling allrounder Amelia Kerr, who was ruled out of the remaining two matches of the series and most of the upcoming WBBL due to a left quadricep muscle tear, was replaced by left-arm spinner Fran Jonas.

The other change saw right-arm pacer Lea Tahuhu come in place of Molly Penfold, in what was a like-for-like swap. Penfold bowled five overs in the first ODI, and went wicketless while going for 28 runs. But she struggled with cramps in the first game.

India, meanwhile, had their regular captain Harmanpreet Kaur back into the side after she was rested for the first ODI due to a niggle. Harmanpreet replaced D Hemalatha in India’s line-up. The hosts also had a debutant in legspinner Priya Mishra, who took the place of Renuka Singh Thakur as India also made two changes to their side.

Mishra, 20, was part of India A tour of Australia recently. In the unofficial Test, she picked up six wickets in Gold Coast and starred with five wickets in the third one-dayer that India A won by 171 runs. She was also the leading wicket-taker in the 2023-24 senior women’s one-day trophy, with 23 scalps. She was then drafted in by Gujarat Giants in the WPL 2024, but didn’t get a chance to play.

India lead the three-match series 1-0 after a 59-run win in the first ODI. New Zealand, meanwhile, need to win the second game not only to keep the series alive, but also to bag crucial points in the Women’s Championship. They are currently placed No. 6 there, with only the top five teams and India as hosts directly qualifying for next year’s World Cup.

India: 1 Smriti Mandhana, 2 Shafali Verma, 3 Yastika Bhatia (wk), 4 Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), 5 Jemimah Rodrigues, 6 Tejal Hasabnis, 7 Deepti Sharma, 8 Radha Yadav, 9 Arundhati Reddy, 10 Saima Thakor, 11 Priya Mishra

New Zealand: 1 Suzie Bates, 2 Georgia Plimmer, 3 Lauren Down, 4 Sophie Devine (capt), 5 Brooke Halliday, 6 Maddy Green, 7 Isabella Gaze, 8 Jess Kerr, 9 Lea Tahuhu, 10 Eden Carson, 11 Fran Jonas

Himanshu Agrawal is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo