Mithali Raj couldn’t play the third T-20 game and Jhulan Goswami took the reins of captaincy. After winning the toss, Goswami preferred to chase. India had lost the first two matches, when they batted first and therefore Goswami didn’t want to bat first. As New Zealand’s top order began hitting, Goswami and her colleagues would have started worrying. Suzie Bates was merciless and so were Rachel Priest and Sophine Devine. Though Priest fell after scoring 14 off 5 balls, Bates and Devine carried on furiously. But when, Rajeshwari Gayakwad dismissed Devine in 6th over and Poonam Yadav took out Bates in the 9th, the downslide began for New Zealand. Among themselves, Rajeshwari, Poonam and Exta Bisht took 7 out of 8 New Zealand wickets. Despite Bates 27-ball 34, the visitors collapsed from 76/2 in the 9th over to 126/8 in the 20th.
Given their batting vulnerability, even the 127-run victory target looked difficult and India began the chase by losing Smiriti Mandhana in the first over itself. However, Vanitha and Latika Kumari batted sensibly and carried the score to 50, before India suffered a jolt. They lost Vanitha, Latika and Harmanpreet in a space of 23 runs to totter at 73/4 in 10 overs. However, Veda Krishnamurthy and Anuja Patil took control at this point with some sustained hitting and despite getting out, the two women paved the way for India’s 3-wicket victory in the end. Krishnamurthy blasted six fours to finish with a 19-ball 34 and Anuja’s 22 came off 23 balls. The two had carried India to safety, before the tail-enders finished the job.