MUMBAI: It’s a strange jinx which has stretched for more than 16 years now. The last time India beat Australia at home in a women’s ODI was in Chennai on February 23, 2007. Since then, they have suffered nine defeats on their own turf to the seven-time world champions. As much as this is a chilling statistic, it must be said that the gap between the teams is closing, as was evident in India’s narrow three-run defeat in the second ODI at the
Wankhede Stadium
on Saturday.
On the eve of the third and final ODI at the same venue, which is of academic interest now since Australia have already won the series 2-0, off-spinner
Deepti Sharma
backed her team to end the Aussie winning streak “as soon as possible”.
“We have improved as a team, be it as a bowling or batting unit. We will try to break their winning streak as soon as possible. There have been a lot of improvements. Earlier, whenever we would play against Australia, the games never used to get that close. This is one positive that we are able to take,” Deepti said on Monday.
Choosing to dwell on the positives for India from the second ODI, Deepti said, “We did well as a bowling unit. The batters did well too, their partnerships in between were good. It is not easy to perform so well in your first match, like Shreyanka Patil did. Richa Ghosh also played fearless cricket.”
Promoted to No. 3, Ghosh made full use of her opportunity, missing out on what would have been a well-deserved hundred by a whisker.
The second ODI also saw Deepti herself take 5/38 — the first time an Indian woman bowler took a ‘fiver’ against Australia.
Deepti credited her impressive bowling form this season to her “increased bowling sessions”.
“I have trained a lot, increased my bowling sessions and also bowled in different phases, such as with the new ball, or in the middle overs, or even with the old ball in the death overs,” she said.
Deepti, though, was unable to force pace with the bat, scratching around for 24 not out off 36 balls as India’s asking rate kept climbing.
“Every team plays to win but some days you are able to pull it off and some days you are not. We gave it a good fight, took it till the end,” Deepti said.
Meanwhile, India will hope captain Harmanpreet Kaur rediscovers her form going into the three-match T20I series against Australia. Even as she had led superbly so far in a memorable home season which has seen India logging historic Test victories over England and Australia, Kaur has struggled for runs, getting out for 9 and 5 in this series.
India have also been bogged down by poor fielding. In the second ODI, they dropped as many as seven catches.
No wonder the players were put through a rigorous catching session on Monday at the Wankhede Stadium.
English (US) ·