Skipper Sophie Devine was supported well by her bowlers as New Zealand handed India a 58-run defeat in the Women’s T20 World Cup in Dubai on Friday.

Opting to bat, Devine hit an unbeaten 57 off 36 balls to power New Zealand to a challenging 160/4.

In reply, India delivered a poor batting performance, throwing away their wickets meekly to be bowled out for 102 in 19 overs. The Indians’ shot selection was poor as none of the batters showed the application to stay at the wicket.

New Zealand captain Sophie Devine, Player of the Match, during her unbeaten 57 on Friday. AP/PTI

Earlier, openers Suzie Bates (27) and Gergia Plimmer (34) gave the Kiwis a flying start, before Arundhati Reddy broke the 67-run stand.

The Indian bowlers made a comeback striking on a couple of occassions in the middle overs before Devine produced a quality knock to give New Zealand the final flourish.

There was confusion and an umpiring controversy when the Indians felt they had run Amelia Kerr out. But it wasn’t to be, with the umpires ruling the ball was ‘dead’.

Harmanpreet Kaur accepted they failed to live up to expectations in their opener.

“We didn’t play our best cricket. Going forward we know every game is important. We created chances but we were not able to avail those chances. They played better cricket than us, no doubt about that,” the India captain conceded.

“We made some mistakes while fielding, so that is a good learning for us going forward. We have many times chased 160-170 and we were expecting do that. We knew someone had to bat through but we kept losing wickets,” she said.

Harmanpreet didn’t wish to say much about their upcoming match against Pakistan on Sunday.

“We know this group is capable of playing better cricket... this wasn’t the start we were expecting but we have to go from here.”

Earlier, South Africa beat the West Indies by 10 wickets. The West Indies were restricted to 118/6 with Stafanie Taylor unbeaten on 44. South Africa reached the target with 13 balls to spare.