Captain Harmanpreet Kaur must focus on her batting form as the Indian Women’s side attempts to reclaim pride and stop a nine-match losing record at home against a dominant Australia in the third and final ODI on January 2, Tuesday. Kaur has led her side excellently well in a long home season, with a couple of historic Test results, but she has also struggled with the bat throughout this time. Harmanpreet has scored in double digits only three times in eight innings this season, with her best being 49 against England in a one-off Test.
In India’s historic one-off Test victory over Australia, Kaur was out for a duck in the first innings and was not obliged to bat in the second. The right-handed batter’s scores in the two ODIs against Australia, which has an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series, were 9 and 5. While India took advantage of good home conditions in the one-off Test, the host team’s flaws have surfaced again in white-ball cricket.
If India struggled with the ball in the first ODI, losing by six wickets despite scoring their highest-ever total of 282/8 in the ODIs, Kaur’s team dropped as many as seven catches in the second game, allowing Australia to win by three runs. Richa Ghosh is India’s new No.3 batsman, and having an aggressive hitter at the top of the order provides the hosts with a lot of firepower.
Indian women have not beaten Australian women even once in the 50-over format in the last 16 years since February 2007. So, Women in Blue will look to deliver their best to win the third and final ODI and avoid a whitewash.
