Hobart, February 27 India women's team captain Harmanpreet Kaur acknowledged on Friday that poor batting in the first two One Day Internationals (ODIs) against Australia led to consecutive defeats in their first 50-over assignment since becoming world champions last November.
India had a strong start, winning 2-1 against Australia in the T20Is, but lost the first two ODIs, with the final match scheduled for Sunday. The two teams, competing in a series across all formats decided on points, will also play a one-off Test match.
India scored 251/9 after batting first, with fifties from Harmanpreet (54) and Pratika Rawal (52), but the visitors paid a heavy price for dropping multiple catches as Australia won by five wickets and 13.5 overs in the second ODI.
"Well, definitely, we didn't bat well today because as a group, we decided to bat first and set a target of over 300, as the pitch was much better than the previous one," Harmanpreet told the broadcaster after the match.
"But unfortunately, we made the same mistakes again, and we kept losing wickets, which is why we fell short of runs."
"Whether we bat first or second, we have to bat well because whenever we bat well, we are always in a good position. In the last two games, we didn't bat well, and that really cost us. It's all about batting well and batting deep, and hopefully, we will do that in the next game," Harmanpreet added.
Australia captain Alyssa Healy, who will play her final match on Sunday before retiring, said she was "delighted" with the ODI win over India.
"I'm really pleased with that result. As I said the other night, I was ecstatic with the way we chased the target, and to do it again tonight even better, I thought, was outstanding. I'm pretty pleased with that," Healy said.
"It was one of those unusual matches where I felt they were well short of a par score, but at the same time, it was frustrating for us. I felt like we could have gotten them out a little earlier. But to keep them to 250 on that sort of wicket was just an outstanding effort from our team."
Healy hailed Georgia Voll (101) and Phoebe Litchfield (80), both 22-year-olds, as the "future" of the Australian women's team.
"Sometimes, I just need to get out of the way and let the young players do their thing. That's the future, right? That's the future of this Australian cricket team moving forward in that top order," Healy said.
"To see them go about their business tonight, especially Phoebe, the way she took it on early and set herself, and gave us a real opportunity, was outstanding. Kudos to both of them," she added.
Voll praised Litchfield for taking pressure off her early on, as the two batters put on 119 runs for the second wicket.
"Phoebe was outstanding at the other end, making my job super easy. (I was) just out there having a lot of fun batting with her."
"Any chance you get to bat for Australia, you try and take it with both hands. So I'm just trying to take any opportunity I can get and do the best job I can," Voll added.
