Harmanpreet Kaur plays a shot during game one of the Women’s One Day International Series between Australia and India at Allan Border Field on February 24, 2026, in Brisbane, Australia.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images
India women’s team skipper Harmanpreet Kaur on Friday (February 27, 2026) conceded that poor batting in the first two ODIs against Australia led to consecutive defeats in their first 50-over assignment since becoming world champions last November.
India made a bright start to pip Australia 2-1 in the T20Is but lost the first two ODIs with one match left to be played on Sunday. The two teams, engaged in an all-format series to be decided over points, will also play a one-off Test.
India posted 251/9 batting first, riding on fifties from Harmanpreet (54) and Pratika Rawal (52), but the visitors paid a heavy price for dropping multiple catches as Australia won by five wickets and 13.5 overs to spare in second ODI.
“Well, 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,” Harmanpreet told the broadcaster after the match.
“But unfortunately, we again made the same mistakes and we kept losing wickets in between, and that’s why we were short of lots of runs.”
“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. In the last two games we didn’t bat well, and that really cost us. It’s only about batting well and batting deep, and hopefully in the next game we’ll do that,” Harmanpreet added.
Australia skipper Alyssa Healy, who will play her final match on Sunday before retiring, said she was “pumped” with an ODI win over India.
“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,” Healy said.
“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. 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.”
Healy termed Georgia Voll (101) and Phoebe Litchfield (80), both 22-years-old, as the “future” of Australian women’s team.
“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,” said Healy.
“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,” she added.
Voll praised Litchfield for taking pressure off her early on, as the two batters put on 119 runs for the second wicket.
“Phoebe was outstanding at the other end, made my job super easy. (I was) just out there having a lot of fun batting with her.
“Any chance you get to bat for Australia, you try and take it with both hands. So I’m just sort of trying to take any opportunity I can get and do the best job I can,” Voll added.
Published – February 28, 2026 12:20 am IST
