Indian women vying for all-round improvement in T20Is against Australia
T20 World Cup later this year, the Indian women's cricket team will be vying for all-round improvement against six-time world champions Australia when the two sides clash in a three-match series starting here on Friday. For the Harmanpreet Kaur-led Indian side, plenty will be at stake after a 0-3 hammering against Australia in the recently-concluded ODI series, having earlier lost a three-match T20I series to England.
The historic wins in the one-off Test each against England and Australia notwithstanding, Harmanpreet's side has a lot of ground to cover in white-ball cricket to improve its dismal record against Australia.
If their horrendous fielding in the second ODI cost India the game by a mere three runs, the batters cut a sorry figure on a perfect deck to be bowled out for 148 after Australia piled up a record 338/8 in the third ODI.
India lost the opening ODI by six wickets since none of the bowlers could impose themselves on a long Australian batting order.
The hosts dropped a total of eight catches in the last two matches and erred quite a bit in their DRS calling too.
India's batting also did not inspire much confidence even though they were playing in their own backyard.
The batters lacked initiative to attack, their power game left much to be desired and a collective plan was never seen when it came to taking down the opposition's bowling.
Harmanpreet's form continued to be a concern with India skipper enduring a forgettable run.
Harmanpreet could only manage 17 runs in three ODIs against Australia. The poor run was a reflection of her woeful run of form as she has six single-digit scores across formats in her last nine outings and none of them is in excess of fifty.
Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh
