An improved show in the fielding department will be on the top of India’s list of things to do well as they look to complement their fine bowling when they take on world No 1 Australia in the third game of the women’s tri-series on Sunday in Canberra.
India got off to a winning start in Australia after the Harmapreet Kaur-led side beat England by five wickets in the tournament opener on Friday. Heather Knight and Co bounced back in style on Saturday to beat Australia in a thrilling match that needed a Super Over to decide the winner.
On Friday, putting up a fine bowling performance led by their spinners, India restricted England to 147. It was followed by a match-winning unbeaten 42-run knock by skipper Kaur.
Harmanpreet’s maturity, Gayakwad’s guile, fielding worries: What we learned from India-England T20I
In the batting department, the top four including young Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmapreet were all among runs, but the middle order comprising Veda Krishnamurthy and Taniya Bhatia struggled.
However, India were far from impressive when it came to fielding with Kaur, Rodrigues and Krishnamurthy dropping catches, apart from misfields.
“I’m really happy that our young players could play with freedom,” Kaur said after the England match. “We have to work hard on our fielding. We need to improve.”
Defending T20 world champions Australia, on the other hand, will be desperate to bounce back after going down to England in a thrilling game.
Except star all-rounder Ellyse Perry (1/9 in 4 overs), the Australian bowlers remained largely unsuccessful against England while only opener Beth Mooney starred with the bat.
The home side will take confidence form the fact that India had lost both their matches against them in the tri-nation T20 series in 2018 but the Indian side will know there is a chance to beat the world No 1 if they bring their A-Game. With the T20 World Cup looming, this is a strong challenge for Kaur’s team to see where they stand while Australia will look to bounce back with a better batting effort from the likes of Alyssa Healy and captain Meg Lanning.
India squad: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy, Taniya Bhatia, Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Radha Yadav, Richa Ghosh, Arundhati Reddy, Harleen Deol, Nuzhat Parween, Poonam Yadav
Australia squad: Alyssa Healy, Beth Mooney, Ashleigh Gardner, Meg Lanning (capt), Ellyse Perry, Rachael Haynes, Jess Jonassen, Delissa Kimmince, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham, Megan Schutt, Nicola Carey, Sophie Molineux, Erin Burns, Tayla Vlaeminck
