Navi Mumbai: Fighting half-centuries by Brooke Halliday and Isabella Gaze went in vain as New Zealand succumbed to a superior batting and bowling effort by India to go down by 53 runs via DLS Method in a rain-hit Match 24 of the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup here on Thursday. The win sealed a place in the semifinals for the hosts.

Halliday struck an 84-ball 81 while Gaze played a cameo as New Zealand, chasing a revised target of 325 in 44 overs, managed to reach 271/8 after India rode on contrasting centuries by Smriti Mandhana (109 off 95 balls) and Pratika Rawal (122 from 134) and a blazing unbeaten 76 off 55 balls by Jemimah Rodrigues to post 340/3 in 49 overs.

The match was disrupted twice by brief spells of rain, the first one after the 48th over in India’s innings, resulting in a one-

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