Harmanpreet Kaur rues batting collapse as India women lose ODI series

India Women lost the ODI series to Australia after another defeat in Hobart. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur blamed the batting unit for repeating mistakes and failing to post a competitive total after opting to bat first.

India Women suffered another defeat in the ongoing bilateral ODI series against Australia at Hobart, and the Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur accepted that her side committed the same mistakes from the last game and kept losing wickets in between.

Kaur decided to bat first after winning the toss, hoping to score a 300-plus total, but was bundled out for 251/9 in 50 overs. The hosts successfully chased down the target in just 36.1 overs with five wickets to spare, thanks to the century of Georgia Voll and a gritty knock of Phoebe Litchfield.

'We didn't bat well today': Harmanpreet Kaur

Reflection on the reasons for the defeat after the match, the Indian skipper said, "Definitely we didn't bat well today because as a group we decided that let's bat first and put a 300-plus total on the board because today's pitch was far better than the previous one. But unfortunately, we again made the same mistakes, and we kept losing wickets in between, and I think that's why we were short of lots of runs.

Kaur stressed that despite the defeat, her side showed so many positives in the match. "Even though we didn't play good cricket, there are so, so many positives. Girls are coming up and showing some good cricket. So I think it's only about being there and keeping doing the right things again and again. And I think that's what you have to do when you're playing international cricket," she said.

"No matter whether we bat first or second, we have to bat really well because whenever we bat well, we're always in a good situation. I think in the last two games we didn't bat well, and I think that really cost us. So I think it's only about batting well and batting deep, and hopefully in the next game we'll do that," she concluded.

'Pumped with that result': Alyssa Healy

Australian skipper Alyssa Healy will hang up her boots after this series, and she has led her side to another series win with back-to-back wins in the first two matches. She said, "I'm really pumped with that result. Like I said the other night, I was ecstatic with the way that we went about that chase. And to do it again tonight, even better, I thought, was outstanding. Pretty pleased with that. It was one of those weird ones where I felt like they were well short of a par score, but at the same time, it was frustrating for us, and I felt like we could have got them out a little bit earlier. But to keep them to 250 on that sort of wicket was just an outstanding effort from our group. We felt pretty well ahead at the halfway mark; we just had to get it done."

Reflecting her views on a series win in her farewell ODI series, she said, "Sometimes I've just got to get out of the way and let the young kids do their thing. That's the future, right? That's the future of this Australian cricket team moving forward in that top order. So to see them go about their business tonight, especially Phoebe, the way she took it on early and got herself set and gave us a real opportunity, was outstanding. Kudos to them both. We'll just keep focusing on what we can do really well and the little phases of the game that we can win. And we're doing those little things at the moment, which is great."

Player of the Match Georgia Voll reacts

Georgia Voll was named Player of the Match for her match-winning knock of 101 runs off just 82 balls. She hit 13 fours and a six in her century knock. Reacting to her big ton after receiving the POTM award, she said, "It was obviously nice to get over the line. I thought Phoebe was outstanding at the other end. Made my job super easy. Just out there having a lot of fun batting with her. And then obviously, when Moons came in, sort of kept the momentum going. It was pleasing to get the win today. We keep things pretty simple, to be honest."

What's next?

India women will clash with Australia in the third and final ODI match of the series at the same venue on Sunday, before moving to Perth, where they are set to play a one-off Test match, starting from Friday. (ANI)

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